In response to the outbreak of war in Iraq, university leadership across the divisions broadcast various e-mail messages to students, faculty and staff late last week, reiterating the university's enhanced security measures and established crisis plans while also urging the university community to go about its daily routines.

Although there is no evidence that universities are being singled out by potential terrorists, the messages reminded people of the federal government's action to raise the terrorism threat alert level to "orange," or high level, and the security-related steps the university has taken in order to ensure the safety and welfare of everyone at Johns Hopkins.

Examples of these measures include enhanced patrols at Homewood, Wyman Park and Johns Hopkins at Eastern; trucks being required to check in with security at the main entrances to Homewood; riders on the Homewood-Peabody-JHMI shuttle being asked to provide Johns Hopkins identification; and the stockpiling of water, food, battery-operated radios, first-aid kits and other emergency-related items for SAIS' Nitze and Rome buildings, which are in Washington.

In addition, the Johns Hopkins-wide Office of Critical Event Preparedness and Response has set its status at Alert Level 3 (yellow, or elevated), in recognition that a potential threat exists and that the institutions' readiness should be monitored, and action should be taken to enhance preparations for a critical event.

In the event of a crisis affecting the entire university, information would be available by calling its emergency telephone numbers, 410-516-7781 or 800-548-9004. The same announcements will be posted to the Web at: webapps.jhu.edu/emergencynotices.

For urgent questions or concerns, contact the CEPAR office at 410-625-4204.