Guidelines For Evacuation Of Academic Buildings During Final Exams

The following guidelines should be followed in the event of a building evacuation during final examinations.  Emergency Support Team 1 (EST1), comprised of the associate dean and the registrar, in consultation with the dean and full Emergency Response Team (ERT), may adapt these guidelines according to circumstance.  Safety of the College community will always remain the highest priority.

If the building alarm sounds, the instructor (or exam proctor) should announce the following directions:

  1. Students should stop working and evacuate the building, leaving their examination materials in the classroom.
  2. The instructor should exit the room after all the students have left.
  3. The class should go to the designated assembly area and remain outside the building until an announcement is made about the continuation or rescheduling of the examination.

An announcement will be made indicating the continuation or rescheduling of examinations:

  1. If an evacuation lasts 60 minutes or less, instructors and students will return to the building and exams will resume immediately.  The examination period will be extended by the amount of time lost during the evacuation.  (There is a two-hour buffer between exams to allow for this).
  2. If an evacuation lasts for more than 60 minutes, the examination will automatically resume in the same room at 7:00 p.m. that same day.  Proctors should return to the examination room when the evacuation ends and collect the test materials left behind.  This must be done as soon as the building opens and before the next exam.  The proctor should distribute test materials when the exam resumes at 7:00 p.m.  The associate dean and registrar (EST1) will handle conflicts for individual classes/students. 
  3. In the event of a more protracted evacuation or building/campus closure, faculty may be asked to provide a substitute take-home examination that can be emailed to the class.  This determination will be made by EST1. Faculty will have discretion as to whether this examination is optional or mandatory, but where reasonable they will be expected to substitute an appropriate exam or graded paper that honors the proportion of the overall course grade assigned to the final.  EST1 will extend the due date for final course grades by an appropriate period.

Qualifications

Exemptions to the above guidelines may be approved by the dean under various circumstances including, but not restricted to, the following:

  • Faculty or students needing to attend to needs of family or friends impacted by the incident
  • Students with disabilities needing additional examination time or special facilities that would be compromised under one or more of the above scenarios

Requirements for special room facilities that become unavailable due to room conflicts when exams are postponed to 7 p.m.