It’s all about preparation.

The Salt Lake Organizing Committee and the University of Utah’s Olympic Coordination Office exist to plan for an enormous international spectacle, and now they should plan for the absence of such a spectacle.

Sure, no one is calling for the cancellation of the Games now, but the events of Sept. 11 have shown us that the entire world can change in one day.

Following the terrorist hijackings came the anthrax letters, and now the United States sits on its heels waiting for the next threat.

It is a position the country has never been in before. With this position comes a heap of uncertainty, and SLOC President Mitt Romney would be well-advised to never say never when it comes to an Olympic cancellation.

With hundreds of millions already spent planning for the events and the pageantry that surrounds them, the International Olympic Committee would only cancel the Games in the most dire of situations.

In the past, that has been world wars; today, it could end up being a terrorist attack. Whether that takes place or not, no one knows for sure, but SLOC and the U need to start forming contingency plans with the same speed they are constructing the security fence around the Olympic Village.

U administrators need to have a strong grasp on their financial commitments surrounding the stadium and the new residential halls, if SLOC ends up not needing them. They also need to plan for a terrorist attack in their own backyard.

The U needs to know what it would do with the 2,000 students who will still be living on campus if an attack takes place.

The U Police Department has participated in training exercises for months just in case of an Olympic catastrophe. This ‘just in case’ is what we need to keep in mind.

And this information should not stay with our public safety officers or university administrators alone. The U has an obligation to inform the students, faculty and staff members who will remain on campus about the best ways to protect themselves just in case.

But that would only matter if the Games actually take place, and in this new era of uncertainty, no one really knows if that will even happen.