A University of Georgia employee Monday created a minor scare on campus by sending an email warning others to be on the lookout for a student with a flag containing Arabic writing draped over his head.
It turned out the student was from Saudi Arabia and possibly earlier in the day participated in an event for UGA’s international students.
However, according to UGA police, the email was forwarded around campus and sparked rumors that classes were cancelled because a man was walking around campus with an ISIS flag, and that police were advising people in Aderhold Hall they might have to evacuate.
The email was sent out Monday afternoon by an administrative assistant in Aderhold Hall, which houses classrooms and administrative offices for UGA’s College of Education. Police said the employee sent that email to her office manager, who forwarded it to the college’s office manager Listserv.
“A man was observed walking around the 5th floor this afternoon. He was wearing all white dress, with this flag draped across his head. If you see him, call police,” the email stated. A photograph of a Saudi Arabia flag was attached to the email, according to the UGA police report.
The same employee also called police at about 3 p.m. Monday to report seeing a “suspicious man wearing a white robe with a green cloak around his shoulders” who was walking in Aderhold’s hallways. When meeting with an officer, the employee said the man did not seem to have any purpose and would hold the green cloak with outstretched hands to display its message, according to the officer’s report.
After the employee pointed out a classroom into which the employee saw the man entering, the officer looked inside and saw that class was ending and the man, was speaking with a professor. When the man exited the classroom and walked to an elevator nearby, the officer watched him but did not see any suspicious behavior. The officer then spoke with the professor in the classroom and learned the so-called suspicious person was a student from Saudi Arabia who had possibly participated in an international students gathering.
That gathering may well have been the International Parade of Flags that occurred earlier in the day in which UGA students paraded around campus while holding national flags of their respective countries.
The officer then spoke with the employee who sent the email and called police.
“I explained that her email could lead to governmental interference of the individual’s First Amendment freedom of expression,” the officer stated in a report.
A UGA police lieutenant who arrived on the scene told the employee police had no information for them to believe “anyone was in danger due to the man’s display of the Saudi Arabia flag,” according to the police report.
The employee complied with a request by police to send a follow-up email to the Listserv stating there was no cause for concern.
Things did not end there. About five hours later, an unidentified male called UGA police to report his girlfriend heard from his sister that “classes at UGA were cancelled because someone on the east side was walking around with ISIS flags,” according to a police report.
About 20 minutes after that, someone else called police to report receiving a strange email, which she believed originated from the UGA Police Department. The email described a man in Aderhold Hall and instructed people to evacuate the building if they saw him.
That email was actually the one originally sent out by the Aderhold Hall administrative assistant, police said.
Police determined the employee’s email was forwarded to at least 56 other people within the College of Education, and also to Listservs for the college’s fire and safety committee and UGA’s counseling and help desk support Listservs.
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