Campus briefs
Casa Italiana evacuated in chemical scare
Based on reports of a strong odor, Campus Safety officers initiated an emergency response in the Casa Italiana residence hall early Tuesday morning.
Casa Italiana was evacuated and the residents were moved to an emergency shelter in the Leavey Center at about 3:20 a.m. Campus Safety received a phone call reporting a "strong odor," according to an e-mail from Joe Sugg, the assistant vice president for university operations.
After detecting the odor, Campus Safety decided to pull the fire alarm and evacuate the building.
The evacuation "was very quick," Sugg said in a phone interview. "By the time the fire department got up to the room with the substance, the building was evacuated."
The Santa Clara Fire Department performed tests on the substance, which Sugg described as a "household chemical incident" in the e-mail, and determined that the residents could return to the building at 6:30 a.m..
David Parker, Ph.D., hazardous material administrator for SCFD, said fire fighters at the scene reportedly discovered laundry bleach, ammonia hydroxide and some toilet bowl cleaner in the room that the smell came from. If laundry bleach were to be combined with either ammonia or an acidic toilet bowl cleaner, a toxic chlorine gas can form.
Chlorine gas in its pure form was used in World War I in trench warfare because of its heaviness and ability to debilitate soldiers, Parker said.
"It's corrosive to your eyes and lungs," he said. "Your lungs react by secreting fluid, and you basically drown in your own fluid."
However, Parker said chlorine gas is an irritant in lower concentrations.
"There's a famous saying in toxicology that the dose makes the poison," he said. "If you were to take too much medicine, it could make you sick no matter what it is."
Evacuating everyone was probably necessary, though the gas did not pose a great threat, Parker said.
"It's the middle of the night, so you don't know what the smell is," he said. "The prudent thing is to get everybody out."
After the residents were released from Leavey Center, Dining Services opened Benson a little early so the evacuees could have something to eat, Sugg said.
"The good news is our emergency plan worked great," Sugg said.
Kiplinger ranks Santa Clara as one of the top 50 best values in private education
Based on admission rates, freshman retention rates, graduation rates and financial aid statistics, Santa Clara is one of the best values in private education, according to Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine. The publication named Santa Clara 43rd in their annual rankings among private universities across the United States.
The magazine examined more than 600 private universities. California Institute of Technology was ranked first this year, followed by Yale University and Princeton University.
Other Jesuit schools on the list include Marquette University, Gonzaga University, Boston College, Georgetown University, Loyola College in Maryland and Xavier University.
Tuition costs and average amount of debt students accumulate are also considered in the report.
Law students successful in international moot court competition
Three Santa Clara law students won first place in the first round of an international contest involving students arguing in a hypothetical court case.
First-round competition involved teams from North America, and the next round of the International Criminal Court Moot Court Competition will be held in The Hague in The Netherlands.
From staff reports. E-mail news@thesantaclara.com.