Bomb threats at Ivy League schools over weekend force evacuations

by mcardinal

Chris Lange, FISM News

 

Separate bomb threats at three Ivy League universities in New York and Rhode Island over the weekend resulted in emergency campus evacuations.

The threats were later deemed “not credible” following investigations by law enforcement on the campuses of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island; Columbia University in New York City; and Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. It is unclear at this time if the threats were connected.

The incidents mark the latest in a slew of anonymous bomb threats made at several universities since Thursday. So far, all threats have been determined to be false.

Cornell University officials lifted an emergency evacuation warning at around 7:30 p.m. Sunday, tweeting that law enforcement found “no credible threats” of danger and that regular activities could safely resume. Cornell’s Vice-President for University Relations Joel Malina issued a statement noting that “several other universities around the country experienced similar hoaxes.” Malina said University officials “will work closely with local, state, and federal investigators pursuing links among these threats of campus violence.” 

University officials were notified of the bomb threat after an anonymous caller told a Tompkins County 911 operator that explosive devices had been placed in several academic buildings at its Ithaca campus. A subsequent search by investigators yielded no sign of explosives and the threat was determined to be false.

Jesse Kay, a student at Cornell, told Fox News he received a text alert about the bomb threat while inside a Starbucks building next to the campus.

“There was a bunch of confusion for a solid hour or so on whether there was an active shooter or a bomb threat. So there was a lot of chaos,” he said. “I was grabbing Starbucks, and they said they were locking it down.” Kay also witnessed several people running away from the campus after the alert was issued. “After [Starbucks] said they were locking the doors up, a fair amount of people headed out back home, and then outside there was a ton of people running into Collegetown from campus,” he said.

Meanwhile, Columbia University tweeted an all-clear for students to return to campus close to 5:00 p.m. on Sunday following a determination by NYPD investigators that a similar bomb threat, received at approximately 2:30 p.m., was “not credible.”

Brown University students received a text alert of campus evacuations Sunday with a notification that police were investigating a campus bomb threat, also subsequently determined not to be credible.

The incidents are the latest in a bizarre string of anonymous, phoned-in university bomb threats made over a four-day period.

Yale University in New Haven, Conn. issued, and later lifted, an emergency evacuation of its campus and a portion of the surrounding community Friday, according to the Hartford Courant

Two universities in Ohio also sent out evacuation alerts over the weekend following respective bomb threats. Campus police at Ohio University in Athens tweeted Saturday that a threat made earlier in the day was not credible, stating that it was “the same as several other false bomb threats recently made to other universities across the country.”

The same day, a similar threat made at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio was found to be “unsubstantiated” by police, according to the campus’ student newspaper

Cleveland State University in Cleveland, Ohio, reported yet another bomb threat on Thursday, also determined to be a hoax, according to Cleveland’s Fox 8 News.

FISM News will continue to monitor developments in these incidents as they occur.

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