After waiting in traffic for up to an hour to exit parking lots following the Sept. 11 cancellation of classes at Sacramento State, students are questioning the university?s evacuation procedures in the event of a real emergency.

By noon that day, most of the campus community was attempting to leave after California State University Chancellor Charles Reed made the decision to cancel classes following terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington D.C. The final decision was made at 10:30 a.m., when many students were still in classes.

After being hurried off campus by university employees, students found themselves stuck in long traffic lines.

“The lines to leave the parking lots were crazy. I tried going out an alternate way and ended up getting stuck in the same spot for almost 40 minutes,” said junior Alicia Patterson. ” I moved 10 feet in 40 minutes; it was complete chaos.

“The parking lots here are poorly designed. If there was an actual emergency evacuation, getting off campus would pose a real problem.”

Associated Students, Inc. Chief of Staff Kevin Greene said the scene last Tuesday raised concern over whether the university would be prepared in the event of a real emergency. “My concern is when we are forced to evacuate under an eminent threat to the campus,” Greene said. “Getting on campus is difficult enough; getting off of it in an emergency should not be.”

Sacramento State had extra traffic officers near all three exits of campus during the mass exodus, hoping to organize the flow of traffic, said campus police Public Information Officer John Hamrick.

“[The traffic] may have been slow, but it was effective with everyone getting out,” Hamrick said.

Hamrick said emergency evacuation plans weren?t used last Tuesday because “nobody was in danger.” The university does have plans in place for evacuation, but the information cannot be disclosed for security reasons, he said.

“We are not going to publicly expose what are plans are in those situations,” Hamrick said.

University Transportation and Parking Manager Nancy Fox said the campus currently accommodates 10,462 cars. During last Tuesday?s closure, approximately 10,000 parking spaces were occupied.

Students are advised to report any suspicious activities on campus, according to Campus Police Lieutenant Ken Barnett. “[Students should] err on the side of safety,” said Barnett. “[Tuesday?s closure] went well given the circumstances. This was not an evacuation of campus, it was a campus closure.”

An emergency manual was recently put together as a guideline, in case of a campus emergency, said David Braverman, associate vice president for Student Affairs.”The manual handles anything from fires to floods,” Braverman said. “However, we do have response teams for the university.”

“The emergencies in the manual are the predictable ones.”