Profs receive letters, powder

Two professors at UC Irvine received letters in the mail Monday that read “Black Death” and contained an unidentified powder. In at least one of the two cases, the powder was not hazardous, school officials said.

About 11:30 a.m. Monday, a professor from the social sciences department opened her mail and found a letter that said only “black death” with white powder inside, said university spokeswoman Cathy Lawhon.

Testing from the Orange County Health Care Agency later proved the powder wasn’t hazardous, Lawhon said. A professor in engineering opened a similar letter at 2 p.m. personally addressed to her.

The county had not received results from that test as of Monday evening, but both professors were reportedly in good health.

It was not immediately clear why the two professors were targeted.

School officials issued a Zot Alert to the campus community and offered reminders on how to handle letters and parcels.

People should be suspicious of letters or packages mailed to them if they’re from someone unfamiliar to them or if the information is outdated, campus authorities said.

Packages that have no return address or have an unusual shape or are lopsided should cause suspicion.

If a person does not normally receive letters marked “personal” or “confidential,” that could also be a warning sign, authorities said.