SMU Officials Issue Campus Alert
Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2007 8:09 pmDALLAS — Campus police at Southern Methodist University have issued a campus-wide security alert for Friday after finding what they consider a "low-level threat" in which someone threatened to "shoot up" the school on "8-6-07," officials said.
That date could refer to Aug. 6 or June 8, campus Police Chief Richard A. Shafer said Thursday.
About 5,000 people — including students, faculty, staff and about 2,000 summer campers — are expected to be on campus Friday, Shafer said. The alert encourages people to stay vigilant and report suspicious activities.
"We just want to make them aware of this low-level threat," Shafer said.
While school officials do not consider the note to be serious, Shafer acknowledged the Virginia Tech shootings changed how police treat such threats.
"Because of that I think it attracted more attention," he said. "We wanted people to know about it and we owe it to people to at least tell them this is what we found."
SMU officials learned of the message in April, shortly after a student at Virginia Tech killed 32 classmates, Shafer said. Students in Hyer Hall, a mixed-use building of classrooms and faculty offices, found the threat scrawled in pencil on the back of a classroom chair and reported it to a professor.
Hundreds of students, faculty and staff have access to that classroom on a regular basis and police were unable to determine who left the message, Shafer said. Federal authorities do not believe those dates have any significance, Shafer said.
Police have posted fliers around campus and sent out a campus-wide emergency notification by e-mail. A note also went out to parents of schoolchildren who are attending various summer camps around campus.
"We will be open for business as usual," Shafer said.
That date could refer to Aug. 6 or June 8, campus Police Chief Richard A. Shafer said Thursday.
About 5,000 people — including students, faculty, staff and about 2,000 summer campers — are expected to be on campus Friday, Shafer said. The alert encourages people to stay vigilant and report suspicious activities.
"We just want to make them aware of this low-level threat," Shafer said.
While school officials do not consider the note to be serious, Shafer acknowledged the Virginia Tech shootings changed how police treat such threats.
"Because of that I think it attracted more attention," he said. "We wanted people to know about it and we owe it to people to at least tell them this is what we found."
SMU officials learned of the message in April, shortly after a student at Virginia Tech killed 32 classmates, Shafer said. Students in Hyer Hall, a mixed-use building of classrooms and faculty offices, found the threat scrawled in pencil on the back of a classroom chair and reported it to a professor.
Hundreds of students, faculty and staff have access to that classroom on a regular basis and police were unable to determine who left the message, Shafer said. Federal authorities do not believe those dates have any significance, Shafer said.
Police have posted fliers around campus and sent out a campus-wide emergency notification by e-mail. A note also went out to parents of schoolchildren who are attending various summer camps around campus.
"We will be open for business as usual," Shafer said.