Students are back in class at the downtown campus of Tennessee State University after a bomb threat was called in this morning. While police found no evidence of an explosive device, it’s the latest in a rash of bomb scares at colleges around the country.
In the past two weeks, threats have been called into Louisiana State, North Dakota State, and a small college in Ohio. All 40,000 students at the University of Texas were evacuated after that school received a threat. Anne Glavin is president of the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators. While most bomb threats are isolated, she says it’s not uncommon for them to come in waves.
“If you look back in history, the one that comes into mind really fast is the one after Columbine. We experienced a similar rash in the country. Similarly, there was never anything that was linked to an actual discovery of an explosive device.”
Regardless if there’s a connection, Glavin says many colleges are likely to re-examine their procedures for dealing with bomb scares. TSU officials say they’re not sure if this morning’s threat is related to the others.
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