Gas Leak
On October 17th, 2024, at 11:19 am the first notice of a gas leak was sent through the RAD notification service via text message reporting that Police Services “has advised that all residents evacuate away from housing and head to upper campus.” This text was followed up by an email which was sent at 11:24 am reporting the same information. The gas leak was reported to be on the “access road between the soccer field and the Evergreen Garden apartments.” Shortly after the message went out, police vehicles were then stationed between F-Lot and the road that turns into the Mod Housing loop, blocking all movement in and out of F-Lot and on the sidewalk between campus apartments and the mods.
Approximately ten minutes after the initial text message from the RAD number was sent, an Evergreen State College staff member went around S-building (the apartment nearest to the suspected gas leak) and knocked on every apartment door alerting residents of the need to evacuate. It is unconfirmed if the staff member had gone to other apartments.
After evacuation, students were sent to Red Square where some students then went into the library, the CAB, and other upper campus buildings. Residents that were in class on upper campus at the time of the alert received the same messages with no classes needing to be evacuated.
At 12:28 pm the college’s Omnialert program sent out a text message reporting an “All Clear” and that student housing had been cleared by Puget Sound Energy (PSE) and McLane Fire to be gas-free, affirming that students could then safely return to their campus housing. At 2:58 pm, an email was sent from the Residential and Dining Services email that summarized the information provided via previous messages and also offered additional information. The RAD email reported that the gas leak “was presumed to be coming from the natural gas substation location at the Driftwood intersection that services The Evergreen Gardens Apartments near campus.” The email also wrote that PSE and McLane Fire had investigated Building T and Building S for presence of gas, which they were reported to be gas-free. The email lastly suggested that PSE would be continuing to investigate the substation for necessary repairs.
A 3:00 pm text message from the RAD phone number reiterated the safety of housing and that students would be receiving the RAD email, which information would also be available on StarRez.
Upper Campus Evacuation
On October 21st, 2024, at around 7:15-7:30 pm dispatch services sent out a radio call, alerting folks to evacuate upper campus. This evacuation was called for after construction workers had accidentally cut wires in the Sem I building, causing all doors attached to the upper campus timed locking system to automatically lock and become unresponsive to key cards.
Staff in the CRC received the evacuation call by radio and began evacuating patrons from the CRC pool. Staff at the CRC reported the reception of one radio call from dispatch. Another student in the Arts Annex at the time of the evacuation did not receive notice of the evacuation from dispatch but discovered the issue when their key card failed to open the Arts Annex building. Language wing classes taking place that night did not affirm an evacuation call and those classes continued as usual.
Due to the malfunctioning of the locking system, this issue was extended to the next day when Purce Hall needed to be manually unlocked in order for classes to continue.
Further information was not provided by the school regarding the evacuation call.
Evergreen NightLife
With a recent uptick in Evergreen party shutdowns, the question arises of what is causing this change? While there are several considerations, these shutdowns do speak to a change in Evergreen policing and its cooperation with the Thurston County Police.
While Evergreen police often checked in on on-campus parties over the 2023-2024 school year, escalation was kept to a minimum with police concerns being limited to noise levels after quiet hours which begin at 11 p.m. on weeknights and 12 a.m. on weekends. In the last month particularly, recent shutdowns of parties have come before quiet hours and concerns have escalated to concerns surrounding underage drinking.
A party held on November 11th, 2024 was confronted by Thurston County police at around 10 p.m. as police first reported the party as being a noise issue. A resident spoke with the officer about mediating the noise issue. Despite a resident’s attempt at mediation, the officer’s concern escalated and the officer secondly reported concerns about underage drinking. Police stood outside of the housing unit until the party had been cleared and threatened arrests if the housing unit was not cleared of non-residents.
The shutdown on November 11th follows another Thurston County police shutdown from November 1st when two Thurston County police officers came to the front door of a residence at about 11 p.m. reporting concerns of noise disturbances. Once the officer was met with a resident of the unit the officer announced “y’all are way too loud.’ A resident of the unit spoke with the two officers, inquiring about how to mediate the police officer’s concerns to which one officer replied that there would be no problem “as long as you guys shut this down.” The residents began clearing the unit of non-residents and the Thurston County police officers remained outside of the housing unit for around ten minutes while non-residents cleared the unit. Residents nearby the party on November 1st reported an absence of noise disturbances during the time of the party.
It is unclear what is escalating police interest in parties at Evergreen, but there is an increased coordination between Evergreen and Thurston County police forces and their response to on-campus student events.
