Cornell University officials, responding to reports of the impending appearance of a dragon on the campus Thursday, March 15, have issued a dragon warning and road closure alert for Thursday afternoon.

From 1 p.m. to approximately 3:30 p.m., vehicular access to central campus will be restricted, and buses may be rerouted or delayed for Cornell's annual Dragon Day parade, in which College of Architecture, Art and Planning students build and parade a mock dragon through campus.

The dragon will leave its lair in Rand Hall at approximately 1 p.m. and travel east on University Avenue, then south on East Avenue, then west on Campus Road. It will lumber through Ho Plaza and enter the Arts Quad between Uris and Olin libraries, before proceeding to the south side of Rand Hall.

Cornell Police and Environmental Health and Safety officials urge members of the campus community to enjoy Dragon Day in a safe fashion. Participants are asked not to engage in behavior that might result in injury to themselves or others.

A map of the planned route can be seen at: http://www.aff.cornell.edu/maps/dragonday.gif .

For the latest information, see http://www.cornell.edu/SpecialConditions/ .