University of Pittsburgh Bomb Threats
 

There is almost close to no reports about this anywhere, but I think more people need to hear about it.

We have just since February 14 we have received 54 bomb threats to university buildings, particularly the Cathedral of Learning which has 10 on its own. In the last two weeks, we haven't gone a day without a bomb threat. And most recently, he has been targeting dorms - GC users might be interested to know that the evacuations that came at 4am this morning included the dorms that house 10 of the 11 NPC Sororities on campus.

At first it was just the building with very large lecture halls and most people thought they were kids trying to get out of exams, but now they're getting ridiculous. They're evacuating dorms in the middle of the night. We're now being searched before we can go into many of the buildings. A lot of students who live locally are commuting from home, and there are some who have just left completely and are coming back for finals in two weeks. Most of the people I know have a bag packed in case they're evacuated in the middle of the night. There's a definite feeling that there isn't a place on campus that is safe.

There haven't been any threats other than the these, but no one knows why this is happening. People keep pointing out how close we are to the the Virginia Tech shootings' fifth anniversary and they had bomb threats before that. We've already passed the number at VT and people are beginning to get panicky. I know I am considering going home and commuting an hour to Pittsburgh and back everyday rather than be locked out of my dorm in the middle of the night.

I wish I had reports from actual news sources, but there are very few outside of the Pittsburgh area - my local newspaper, which relies mainly on Pittsburgh news, has had NOTHING about this. But I can give you this:

http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2012/...sures-at-pitt/

I trust the Pitt Police and Admins. They are doing everything they can and I respect them for that. The threats just keep coming. Prayers and good thoughts are more than welcome from any source - and I speak for the entire campus when I say this. I just hope this ends soon - and safely.

Ugh, I can't imagine having to go through this when I was a grad student at Pitt. I hope they find the person or people quickly. The semester's almost over... what a way to head into finals.

I've been following these threats and feel so bad for everyone involved. And what most people probably don't realize is that when a threat is received for multiple buildings at once, it takes that much longer to clear them - especially the residence halls. All those poor students with no where to go! And the Cathedral is so tall (I think I saw that at any given time there are 3,000 people in the building)!

My thoughts keep going to graduation in a few weeks. :(

Just as an update, we're now at 57 threats. I'm more worried about them disrupting finals than graduation. Most professors are considering take-home or emailed finals as opposed to a written final that gets disrupted half-way through. But there's a rumor that the commencement ceremony might be cancelled and everyone would receive their diploma either later or at departmental ceremonies - which not every department has.

I have a bag packed and I'm ready to leave if I have to. I've been carrying everything I could need all afternoon if my dorm got evacuated while I was in class and I am planning on doing this until further notice. I've had enough of this - but there's nothing I (or anyone else) can do.

You're doing the right thing. I know they're annoying, but take them seriously every time, please.

I had no idea this was going on - how terrible. I'm certainly sending positive thoughts up your way.

I don't know if it means a hill of beans to you, but most institutions don't present diplomas at their commencement ceremonies anyway - they typically just give a copy of a letter that basically says your diploma will be sent once your degree has been finalized. Of course, every institution is different. I was simply pointing this out in case not getting a diploma on the date of commencement was something that you were disappointed/worried about.

When my daughter graduated from PITT there was no way on this earth they could hand out the diplomas at the graduation ceremony. It took almost 45 minutes just to get all the graduates into the arena. The only people who were named individually were those receiving their doctorates.

DaffyKD

Sorry about that confusion. I had posted that from my phone and it wouldn't let me correct unless I was on an actual computer. I didn't even get my diploma from my HS graduation until almost a month into summer. What was I thinking?!?

But there is a decent chance that the actual commencement could still be cancelled. Even if the graduates don't get any individual recognition at it, I still think it would be a shame for something as important as college graduation to be ruined by these bomb threats. But they might not. They're going with Bigelow Bash this weekend - this carnival/concert thing - which I think is idiotic. I don't care what semi-famous band they got to play this year. With all these threats, I'm staying the hell away - and I'm telling all my friends to do the same.

One of my coworkers was awakened last night at 4 AM....he was not a happy camper today.