Damn Fire Alarms

There has been a rash of fire alarms going off this year. One of them went off while I was teaching, and I had to let the class go. I mean, I'm pretty sure it wasn't for real, but you can't keep a class in on that basis. Another went off during office hours. And another went off while one of my friends was teaching. I've never seen it this bad: 3 fire alarms in about a 2-week period. And most people give exams around this time, which is probably why the alarms got pulled in the first place. I guess they don't realize that pulling an alarm without a reason is actually a crime. I'm not sure how big a crime, but I'm fairly certain it is a crime. I guess that's better than when I got my undergraduate degree. That was pre-9/11, and during exam week it was fairly common to get bomb threats called in. I always thought that was exceptionally stupid - even in those days they could trace phone calls. And that is a crime.