The woman who called in the “suspicious package” that led to the evacuation of the Academic Center this afternoon identified it as a large leather suitcase, a description corroborated by Richard Troen of the MPD bomb squad and University Spokeswoman Tracy Schario.

Young-Key Kim-Renaud, chair of the department of East Asian Languages and Literatures, said that she other members of her department were leaving a meeting on the fourth floor of Rome Hall when they noticed an unattended suitcase with a Dubai International Airport sticker lying under a desk near the elevator bay. Kim-Renaud said she and her colleagues then made the decision to call UPD shortly after 2:30 p.m.

Kim-Renaud said that in France, the suitcase would have been destroyed immediately.

“See what kind of social disturbance it makes!” she said.

Schario said investigators on the scene had identified the owner of the suitcase, a woman who was visiting a friend at GW.

Eric Roper, Alexa Millinger and Tim Gowa contributed to this report.