A FlashAlert informed students around 11:30 a.m. Tuesday that Kent Campus Energy companies were working on natural gas lines, resulting in a gas odor inside Crawford Hall and near other campus halls.

In an email, University Housing said the odor was not a threat to campus safety and they were in contact with Dominion Energy, who was conducting planned work on the university’s gas lines.

“They have informed that there is no threat to the health and safety of those on campus and there is no need to evacuate the buildings,” University Housing stated.

Both Dominion Energy and the university could not be reached for a comment.

Kayla Nagle, a senior accounting major, said professors on the fourth floor of Crawford Hall advised students to evacuate the building around 11 a.m., before the university issued a FlashAlert.

“[The smell] was really strong on the fourth floor,” she said. “It smelled like natural gas, like gasoline from a gas station.”

Keerthi Mallela and Sindhuja Manda, both graduate business analytics students, said their professors had their class evacuate upon seeing other classes leave the building. While outside the building, they noticed the gas odor was stronger outside.

“The professors came to us and said, ‘You need to leave immediately,’ but we were unsure because the alarms were not on,” Mallela said.

After the evacuation, Manda said she could no longer smell the odor inside the building.

Nagle was not concerned about the odor, but was curious where it came from.

“It was really strong, but they said it came from outside, so I was just curious how it got so strong inside,” she said.

Adriana Gasiewski is a reporter and digital producer. Contact her at [email protected].