Shortly after 2 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 30, the San Antonio Fire Department (SAFD) officials arrived outside the Graduate School and Research Building (GSR) on Main Campus. UTSA police officers surrounded the covered foyer as students came outside. An SAFD hazardous material truck was on the scene, along with a fire truck and an unmarked police vehicle. An office belonging to Rose Rodriguez-Rabin — the UTSA lecturer arrested following a drug bust operation in 2019 — was opened. SAFD officials found what is being referred to as an “artificial sweetener” in the room. 

Joe Izbrand, associate vice president for communications and marketing, commented on the material found in the office and the presence of fire department officials. 

“We asked for the San Antonio Fire Department to assess the nature of the substance,” Izbrand said. “A HazMat unit was dispatched and determined that there was nothing dangerous and that the substance was an artificial sweetener.”

Izbrand was asked why the UTSA police department did not send a text message while fire officials were searching the GSR building. 

“There was no risk to [the] campus,” Izbrand said.