Students in Art 1 (Visual Arts and the Studio: An Introduction) got an unexpected reprieve from class yesterday morning when Penn State Police Services evacuated Schwab Auditorium in response to a bomb threat.

No explosive materials were found, and no one was injured.

An anonymous telephone call at 11:10 a.m. warned of a bomb in the building, Ron Jackson, university police supervisor, said.

A few minutes after the 11:15 a.m. class began, a security officer came in and described the situation to David Ebitz, associate professor of art.

Sara Ridge (sophomore-public relations), a student in the class, said Ebitz finished explaining some class material and then said he was canceling class.

Ebitz said he and his class were the only occupants in the building, so police agreed that it would be an easy building to evacuate.

The class roster lists 330 students, but Ebitz estimated that there were about 260 people in Schwab at the time.

Penn State police searched the entire building and later posted large printed signs on the main doors of the auditorium that informed students of the threat.

At about 12:30 p.m., several officers left Schwab carrying a bomb threat kit. People were allowed back into the building.

Ebitz said he didn't know of any "overt reason" for someone to make the threat. No test was planned for the day's class. A homework assignment was due, but it was rescheduled for Tuesday.

Students gathered for the next class in Schwab, Communications 150 (Art of Cinema), and word of the threat failed to draw too much attention from passing students.

Instead, dozens of people stopped on the steps of Willard Building to watch a group of men dance in the falling snow and sing along to a stereo playing the song "Y.M.C.A."