A suspicious package placed on one of the concrete pillars located between the High Bay Physics Laboratory and the Science Engineering Research Facility forced UCSD police to close Matthews Lane on Wednesday afternoon until units of the San Diego Fire Department confirmed that the package was harmless.

No buildings were evacuated.

According to police, the package consisted of “”a piece of cardboard attached to a silver disk and a sponge, held together with red tape.””

Police also described the object as resembling a “”transistor device”” from a distance, an appearance that ultimately spurred a citizen to notify campus officials at around 12:55 p.m.

An employee at the UCSD police said there were reports that the placement of the package was a project by students in a visual arts class. The reports are still unsubstantiated.

Police subsequently closed Matthews Lane for about 20 minutes, preventing East and Regents Parking shuttle drivers from dropping passengers off near the Price Center, as they normally would.

“”With Matthews Lane closed to vehicular traffic, we began to have the shuttles stop at parking lot P403, near the Canyonview pool, instead,”” said Frank Buono, shuttle operations coordinator for Transportation Services.

In addition, the office sent a representative on foot to the Price Center shuttle stop to alert passengers of the change. Normal shuttle service resumed soon after Matthews Lane was reopened by campus police.