More Bombs Threatened at Nervous UC Campus : Santa Barbara: Police find no explosives this time. Two devices were discovered earlier.

Two unsubstantiated bomb threats were made Friday at an already jittery University of California campus, where earlier in the week two pipe bombs with powder explosives were discovered.

Campus police could not find any evidence of bombs at the chemistry department, where the threats indicated they had been placed. While faculty and staff were given the option of leaving the building, few researchers considered abandoning their laboratories, said Jackie Turner, the department’s business officer.

Chemists, she explained, often become so consumed by their research that they pay little attention to the outside world: “They work on weekends, late at night, sometimes all night . . . they ignore fire drills; they ignore holidays. A bomb threat isn’t going to get them out of their labs.”

On Wednesday, police discovered a pipe bomb in front of the ROTC building and the next day they found a similar bomb in the library. A group called Rite of Spring, which expressed opposition to the Persian Gulf War, left recorded messages at campus offices, claiming responsibility for the bombs. The group also claimed to have left a pipe bomb Wednesday at the offices of U.S. Rep. Robert J. Lagomarsino (R-Ventura).

Agents from four FBI offices in California have been sent to the campus to investigate the bombs. Authorities say they have no information about Rite of Spring.

The campus police station has received numerous calls from students reporting suspicious packages and asking whether loud noises are bombs exploding.

“A lot of it was just thunder from the rainstorms,” said Lt. Bill Bean. “But people are pretty spooked.”

On Friday morning, a caller contacted the chemistry department and announced that a bomb would go off between 10 a.m. and noon, said Joan Magruder, a campus public information officer. A caller made another bomb threat to the chemistry department later that morning.

The department staff left their offices until early afternoon and several professors cut their morning classes short. But campus police, after searching the premises and interviewing staff who received the calls, determined that a full evacuation of the four-story chemistry building was unnecessary.

Many students expressed more irritation than fear about the bomb threats. The quarter is coming to a close, finals are approaching and students are short-tempered about any disruption. The library was closed Thursday because of the bomb found there, and a number of other campus buildings were evacuated for several hours.

Even the campus peace organizations oppose the methods of the group that claims to be placing the bombs. At the Student Anti-War Coalition, a tiny office filled with political posters and clenched fists painted on the walls, member D.A. Dixit complained about the closure of the library.

“I had a lot of research to do and I couldn’t do any of it,” he said. “I’ve got to see my professor in a few hours and he’s not going to be too happy. . . . These people leaving the bombs don’t realize they look pretty lame. Hey, this is Santa Barbara, not Berlin.”

At the campus library, the spot where the pipe bomb was placed and later disarmed is clearly visible. Beneath a series of hard-bound volumes of Sunset magazine, there is a section of carpet missing and a small pile of dirt. While the rest of the library was crowded, only one student braved studying at a table near the bomb site.

“It doesn’t really bother me,” said student Virginia Fallon, shrugging. “This is a good spot . . . the quietest place in the library.”