Bomb Threat At North Dakota State University, “Unspecified Threat” At Valparaiso University

In addition to the evacuation at the University of Texas, the campus of North Dakota State University in Fargo has also been evacuated:

FARGO, N.D. (AP) — Thousands of students and workers streamed out of North Dakota State University buildings Friday after officials said they had received a bomb threat and needed the campus clear within a half hour.

President Dean Bresciani said the threat came in a “telephone call to the campus” but gave no details on who received the call or what the caller said. Bresciani said he was aware of another bomb threat Friday morning at the University of Texas at Austin but did not know of any others.

Neither university officials nor Fargo police would say whether the threats at NDSU might be related to those in Texas. Fargo police Lt. Joel Vettel also declined to provide details on the call to NDSU.

Meanwhile, in Indiana, Valparaiso University has notified students of an unspecified threat:

VALPARAISO | Valparaiso University officials posted a warning on their website saying an unspecified threat was made through graffiti alluding to “dangerous and criminal activity.”

The threat alleged it would take place during the university’s daily chapel break period.

According to the website, the “broad threat” provided no specific details about the location of the threat.

It was unknown whether the threat had any relation to bomb threats Friday morning that forced the evacuation of the University of Texas and North Dakota State University campuses.

The alert advised student that additional security presence will be on site and visible during the break, which begins at 11:15 a.m. every day.

Classes, all regular activities and the daily service at the Chapel of the Resurrection will go on as planned, said Nicole Niemi, director of media relations for VU.

It’s likely that all three of these incidents are hoaxes, but it is quite odd to have three similar events happen at three universities in three different states. There may be no proof as of yet that the incidents are connected, but it sure would be one heck of a coincidence if they weren’t

FILED UNDER: Crime, Education, , ,
Doug Mataconis
About Doug Mataconis
Doug Mataconis held a B.A. in Political Science from Rutgers University and J.D. from George Mason University School of Law. He joined the staff of OTB in May 2010 and contributed a staggering 16,483 posts before his retirement in January 2020. He passed far too young in July 2021.

Comments

  1. wr says:

    Because if I’m Al Qaeda, I’m still kicking myself for wasting all my resources on Mahattan and the Pentagon while letting Fargo slip away unscathed.

  2. DRS says:

    Actually, if I seriously wanted to destabilize America, I’d have co-ordinated attacks at multiple sites across the country, NOT in major cities. That would do more to totally freak out Americans than anything else, with awful consequences I don’t want to think about.

  3. OzarkHillbilly says:

    There may be no proof as of yet that the incidents are connected, but it sure would be one heck of a coincidence if they weren’t

    Checking a few Jihadi websites would probably clear this up.

    Oh, and I blame Obama.

  4. @DRS:

    Now I’m not going to sleep tonight……

  5. Gustopher says:

    @DRS: Yes, but you wouldn’t warn people, would you? Not in a specific, actionable.manner anyway.

    I never understood bomb threats. You either want to kill a bunch of people or you don’t — make up your mind.

  6. PJ says:

    @Doug Mataconis:

    There may be no proof as of yet that the incidents are connected, but it sure would be one heck of a coincidence if they weren’t

    I think the words you’re looking for are copycat and/or students. 🙂

  7. DRS says:

    @Gustopher:

    Well, phoning in a warning ensures that authorities and military-types will be tied up all day and night searching for danger, stretching resources in non-major cities pretty thin. And even if they’re all false, Americans will react to the sheer number of threats and wonder how many threats will be called in tomorrow or next week, and fear how some might be real.

    Americans are used to things like this happening on the other side of the world. Happening locally is another thing entirely. I’m getting worried.

  8. mattb says:

    @DRS:

    Actually, if I seriously wanted to destabilize America, I’d have co-ordinated attacks at multiple sites across the country, NOT in major cities.

    100% correct — especially given how soft, generally speaking, our infrastructure is.

    Remember that the reason airplanes were chosen in 9/11 had as much to do with how soft a target they were and their relatively high level of destructive potential.

    On the flip side, given how much something like coordinated random bombings/shootings would paralyze us, how soft those targets still remain, and the fact there have been none in the US for over a decade (since 9/11), it provides a strong argument against the possibility that these bomb threats are anything more than specific schools and institutions being trolled.

    I do pray that I’m right. But right now the evidence strongly suggests that I am.

  9. wr says:

    @mattb: “On the flip side, given how much something like coordinated random bombings/shootings would paralyze us, ”

    Paralyze us? Are you kidding? The NRA and the Republicans would leap into action, insisting that being gunned down in a random shooting just proves how free we are.

    Heck, it’s what they’ve been doing all summer, and it seems to be working.

  10. bill says:

    @Gustopher: maybe they didn’t finish their project on time, or couldn’t make it for a test- like in road trip”?! nah.