Friday afternoon at around 1:10, Prof. Mark Auslander (ANTH), who was teaching in Olin-Sang at the time, called Public Safety to report an odor of gas in the building. Public Safety evacuated the building, and the Waltham Fire Department came to investigate the situation. They determined that there was no problem and that students could re-enter the building.Joe Delisle, supervisor of heating and air conditioning for the University, said, "A call came in about a gas smell. The call went to the campus police and then the [Waltham] Fire Department was called. At that time the building was evacuated. I talked to the police department and they didn't find any odors. It was a false alarm. There wasn't any smell."

In an e-mail to the Justice, Director of Facilities Peter Baker wrote, "The Waltham Fire Department and [the Department of Fire Services] responded immediately to investigate. No gas leak was found. DFS re-primed the flood drain traps to mitigate any odors from them. DFS and the University Safety Office will continue to monitor."

A representative from Waltham Fire Prevention said, "There were two meters used to investigate the odor of natural gas and both meters read zero."

Director of Public Safety Ed Callahan added in an e-mail to the Justice that once the Waltham Fire Department determined that the situation was safe, occupants were allowed to re-enter the building.

Students in Olin-Sang at the time of the evacuation reported that they did smell an odor, which made them feel sick.

"During 'Intro to Anthropology' in Olin-Sang 101, someone pointed out that it smelled like gas," Jess Schaengold '11 wrote in an e-mail to the Justice. "Everyone in the class smelled it. We left the building. Pretty much everyone in the class was feeling light-headed and/or nauseous. We called Public Safety, who called the [Waltham] Fire Department. Public Safety evacuated the building. Apparently they couldn't find a leak. It happened at about 1:10, and they let people back in at 1:45ish," she wrote.

Students said no one was sent to the Health Center to the best of their knowledge.

Meghan Breslin-Jewer '11 wrote in an e-mail to the Justice that she started to have a headache while watching the movie in the Anthropology class. She said Auslander announced that there was an odor and told students to leave the room in case it was a gas leak. She wrote that the professor canceled the rest of the class instead of waiting for the police and fire department to arrive because it was drizzling.

Alissa Perman '11 added that Auslander asked whether other students smelled the odor and "a good number of students raised their hands."

"Supposedly there was nothing wrong. I'm not really sure what happened, but there was definitely an odor in that room and a lot of us had headaches or felt sick," Breslin-Jewer wrote.

Sara Enan '11 said Auslander sent the students an e-mail later in the day saying that the police did not find a gas leak.