I was walking out of the Law School building a little before five o'clock in the afternoon with Jim Ryan to get some coffee when we both heard a big explosion from the Yale Law School buliding. A few minutes later, the entire Yale Law School community was walking down York street. Apparently an explosion occured in Room 120 on the first floor. Several students reported seeing a fireball in the main hallway that connects the various classrooms. Others reported that the wall in the Alumni reading room next to room 120 was destroyed. The Law School has been cordoned off, and police have surrounded the area. I'm told the FBI has been called in. It's still not clear if this is an accident (an exploding pipe) or a crime scene (a bomb). As of yet, there are no reports of injuries, but we don't know if anyone was in Room 120 when the explosion occured. This week is parrt of exam period and I don't know if students were working there. I'm very worried about my students.

There was an explosion in an auditorium at the Yale Law School today, at around 4:40 PM. It doesn't look like it was that big, since I've spoken to people who saw the doors of the auditorium blown out. A couple students I spoke to said they saw debris, blown out doors, and debris and smoke. Other students said that the explosion was loud and that the building shook when it occurred. I was in the law school at the time, but I didn't hear anything as I wasn't that close to the auditorium; the alarms didn't even go off where I was, so I didn't leave until my friend saw people across the street waving at us to get out. No word on injuries, but I didn't see any ambulances. They sent lots of firetrucks and police, including a bomb disposal unit. They've cordoned off around 4 square blocks around the law school. Some students speculated that it was a gas leak, because a similar, small explosion occurred as a result of such a leak last year--there's lots of other rumours floating around as well, of course. This should be up on the AP wire very soon, as there was a reporter who got onto the scene pretty quickly.

Our early reaction to the bombing is that the news coverage, and the mayor's comments, seemed very uninformed. The NBC TV station here was showing a shot of the city skyline, with "smoke" supposedly rising out of the law school -- but anybody who knows anything about New Haven would know that wasn't even the law school building. They were showing a shot of steam coming off of the power plant across the street! It sounds like the explosion took place in room 120, a classroom off the main hallway that seats about 90 people. Next door is the alumni lounge, and on the other side of the alumni lounge is the student lounge. Part of the mailroom is located above room 120, so it's possible that the explosion actually was in the mailroom, and collapsed the floor of the mailroom into room 120. While the undergraduates are done for the semester, our finals period lasts till this Friday at 4:30. No word yet on how that's been affected. Kate and I are both supposed to take finals tomorrow.

I am fine, and so are my friends, in the extremely limited sense of "fine" that matters at moments like this. A few hours ago, a lot of us were sick with stress from exams. A few hours from now, we'll be sick with stress from having our school nearly blow up. But for now, we are unharmed, safe, and in contact with our families and with each other. We are fine.

There's been an explosion inside the Yale Law School. I was in the dining hall at the time and heard a big boom, before the fire alarm sirens went off. A friend of mine in the student lounge saw a wall in the adjoining alumni reading room collapse in front of a fireball; the wall had lots of portraits of famous YLS graduates, including Guido Calabresi and Robert Bork. Because of my friends' reports, I'm doubtful that this came from the mailroom: the explosion would have had to be pretty damned powerful to collapse a wall one floor below and be felt in the basement computer room. Most likely it came from Room 120, which is right next to the alumni reading room.
They're saying it's a bomb on tv now. Thank goodness the law school was pretty empty: if this had occurred at some earlier point (e.g., during the teaching awards ceremony in the alumni reading room a few weeks earlier), a lot more people would have been hurt. Nobody seems to have been injured today though. My God. More mundane matters: I don't know what the law school is going to do about finals and papers from now on. At some level I guess I don't really care at the moment.

recorded video of a news conference

I was in the student lounge this afternoon working on my last exam when I heard a large boom, very close by. I looked over into the alumni reading room and saw the wall collapsing inwards, the portraits falling down. Dust was flying everywhere, and I could see a large fireball in room 120. Fortunately, it appears no one was in either 120 or the reading room, and only one other person was in the student lounge with me. I'm at Jeff's now with a bunch of other dorm refugees... I'm a bit shaken up. The building is closed, and apparently won't be opened up tomorrow at all. Thankfully, lots of people have offered accomodations overnight (and they're opening up undergrad housing), but I only have my laptop with me (not even my cell phone). Do I still have to turn in my exam at 11 tomorrow morning? I can't really get back into the train of thought that was disrupted by the explosion...

So far there are no reports of injuries, thank goodness. The building is closed off at least through Friday. (Graduation is Monday, but I assume we will move over to the gymnasium, as we have in the past when there's rain). Speculation is running rampant as to the cause of the explosion. We still don't know if it was a bomb or an exploding pipe. At the 6:30pm news conference Mayor DeStefano said he thought it was an "explosive device" (which, I assume, is a fancy name for a bomb). But we really won't know for some time.

As you may have heard, there was an explosion at the Law School this afternoon at approximately 4:40 p.m. in a first floor classroom. There are no known injuries, but there is considerable damage to the classroom and an adjacent lounge. The Law School will be closed tomorrow and Friday. The rest of the University will be open and operating normally. All Commencement related events will proceed as scheduled. As always, there are extra security personnel and precautions for the Commencement. Students housed in the Law School will be staying in Stiles College. Law School exams scheduled for tomorrow and Friday will be distributed at 9:00 a.m. at 114 Sheffield-Sterling-Strathcona (SSS) at the corner of Grove and College. Self-scheduled and rescheduled Law School exams will be available between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. both Thursday and Friday at the entrance to 114 SSS. The Law School community should consult a special website at www.yale.edu/law for regular updates. There will be a press conference at 9:30pm this evening at the corner of College and Grove Streets. As more information becomes available, we will report it on this website.

The Yale Law School building will be closed on Thursday, May 22. Faculty, staff and students should NOT report to the building, as no one except authorized personnel will be able to enter the building. (Please note that Registrar’s Office staff should await further instruction by telephone.) For those who may have left personal effects in the building when it was evacuated, please be assured that the building is secure. The YLS administration is working on alternate arrangements for student taking exams ­ more information will be emailed and posted at a special YLS website (http://www.yale.edu/law) as it becomes available throughout the evening. Interim housing for dormitory students will be available in undergraduate housing at Ezra Stiles College beginning at 9.00 p.m. tonight. Students should meet at the Ezra Stiles entrance gate near the entrance to the YLS Bookstore at 9:00 p.m. to receive their room assignments. In addition, YLS staff and University counselors will be available in the Common Room at Ezra Stiles College at 9:00 for any member of the YLS Community who would like to come together at this time.