The University of Iowa’s fall semester classes got underway today, and for students of one dorm they already experienced an evacuation. Police cleared Slater Hall around 7:45 last night after U-I spokesman, Tom Moore, says a student was found unresponsive in his room.
“Slater staff informed police they’d observed chemicals and other suspicious items in the resident’s room. Johnson County drug force officers, and agents from the Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement, obtained a search warrant for the room,” Moore says. He says school officials decided to evacuate the dorm as a precaution. “U-I Police and U-I housing and dining staff decided to evacuate the building about 9 p.m. while the chemicals were assessed and removed,” according to Moore.
Moore says the student was taken to University Hospitals, but the student’s identity and condition isn’t being released. There’s also no comment on the nature of the chemical substances. Slater Hall has a capacity for around 500 students and the residents were able to returned to their rooms at about 11:20 last night.