It started as a normal business calculus lecture in Heroy Auditorium — until a certain winged, nocturnal creature showed up for class.

‘I noticed students in the back of the auditorium flinching and ducking,’ said Jeffrey Meyer, an assistant professor in the department of mathematics. ‘Then I saw the bat.’

SU News Services published information about bat activity on campus Friday, alerting the SU community of the seasonal increase in bat activity around Central New York and campus in the late summer and early fall.

The bat disrupted Meyer’s business calculus class of about 120 students on Sept. 7 around 10:30 a.m. The bat flew around the room while Meyer went for his phone to call the math office and report it, he said.

Some students left the room right away, but Meyer said he stayed to keep tabs on the bat, as it was landing occasionally.

‘I was afraid that if no one saw where it hid, the bat people would be unable to find it,’ Meyer said.

Rodney Fleming, a sophomore in Meyer’s business calculus class, said the bat flew close to the ceiling and kept its distance from the class whenever it landed.

Class continued until Fleming followed his resident advisor training and told Meyer to evacuate the classroom.

Meyer, now in his 13th year at SU, said he has seen bats on a couple occasions in Carnegie Library, which opened in 1907 as the main campus library. 

‘People were able to cover them with wastebaskets until the bat people arrived,’ Meyer said.

SU News Services advised to avoid contact with bats — as they may carry the rabies virus — and to call the Department of Public Safety if a bat is present in an SU work area or room.

SU’s Environmental Health Office released a comprehensive guide on reporting bat exposure, which was revised August 2010. The guide states only designated individuals trained in bat capture are allowed to capture a bat and only while wearing thick, pliable leather gloves, long-sleeved shirts and long pants.

William Longcore, associate director of the Office of Residence Life, said in an e-mail RAs follow SU protocol and the EHO’s guidance to deal with bats. The ORL does not track bat reports, he said.

‘Bats are able to enter buildings through any small opening, ranging from a loose window screen to a gap in the wall of an elevator shaft, and from there, find their way to occupied areas,’ Longcore said.

ORL staff typically observes bats around entry points to the residence hall, generally clinging to a wall surface, Longcore said. Bats are removed by personnel from either Physical Plant or FIXit.

Encountering a bat while walking into a room is no problem, said Peter Constantakes, New York State Department of Health spokesman. Bats are most dangerous when possible bite victims are unaware of their presence for a long period.

Bats favor dark and damp places, he said, and older buildings tend to be darker and damper. Bats are rare in classrooms or auditoriums because of the number of people in the room, he said.

Bats are common transmitters of rabies, yet their presence cannot spread disease unless their bodily fluids come in direct contact with the skin, eyes or mouth, Constantakes said. 

Only 54 out of 2,595 bats tested by the Department of Health this year have tested positive for rabies, Constantakes said. But he said it is safest to assume a bat does carry the disease.

‘It’s uncommon,’ Constantakes said, ‘but it does happen.’

geclarke@syr.edu

Published on September 21, 2010 at 12:00 pm