Princeton campus closes due to bomb threat; no devices found

Updated 6:00 p.m.: A bomb threat alert was issued by the Universityon Tuesday at 10:26 a.m.The campus was fully evacuated and remained closed throughout the afternoon. Only essential employees from Public Safety and Facilities were asked to remain on campus.

Both the number of reported bombs and their reported locations remain unspecified. University spokesperson Martin Mbugua confirmed that the initial threat was reported via a call to a campus phone around9 a.m. Tuesday.

As of5:30 p.m., there had not been any confirmation as to the presence of any bombs on campus.

ABCnews reported that a “suspicious package” had been found on campus. Princeton Police Sergeant Mike Cifelli declined to comment on the package, referring comment to the Department of Public Safety, who referred comment to the Office of Communications.

“All I can say is the investigation is continuing,” Mbugua said. “The sweep of buildings is continuing. The goal is to determine if the buildings are safe.”

The initial message transmitted over the Princeton Telephone and Email Notification System indicated that there had been a bomb threat to “multiple unspecified campus buildings.”

"Please evacuate the campus and all University offices immediately and go home unless otherwise directed by your supervisor,” the message read.

The University determined that the threat was a credible threat based on discussions with federal law enforcement agencies, Mbugua said.

Law Enforcement Response

Bomb sniffing dogs swept buildings on the now-closed campus. Mbugua declined to comment on the specific buildings being searched, but did say the investigation was expected to last several more hours.

According to Mbugua, the Department of Public Safety is receiving support in the investigation from the Princeton police, state police, regional law enforcement agencies and federal law enforcement agencies.

According to Cifelli,the bomb sniffing dogs were provided by numerous agencies, including the New Jersey State Police, the Mercer County Sheriff’s Office and the New Jersey Transit Police.

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Mbugua confirmed that the Newark division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation is also assisting the investigation.

FBI special agent in Newark’s Office of Public Affairs Luis Rodriguez said the agency responded at the request of the Princeton Police.

“It was a telephone threat,” Rodriguez said. “No devices have been found. There is no tie as of this moment to any terrorist group.”

Rodriguez said he did not have details about whether the device was reported to be in any particular area of campus.

“We treat these things seriously, and fortunately nothing happened here,” he said.

Cifelli clarified the Princeton Police’s role in the evacuation, calling it “a courtesy” at the Department of Public Safety’s request.

“We are being guided by their protocol at this time as to the degree of our assistance,” Cifelli said.

The Department of Public Safety referred all comment to the University’s Office of Communications.

Department of Public Safety Director of Operations Stefanie Karp has been out of office since last Friday. When reached on her cell phone, Karp said she was on vacation in Spain.

Messages, evacuation and confusion

Throughout the day, Department of Public Safety officers and Princeton Police officers directed drivers to evacuation sites. Those without cars were directed to evacuation sites, including Nassau Inn, Princeton Public Library and the Princeton Arts Council buildings. Faculty and staff were encouraged to remain at home.

Students who were on campus at the time of the threat noted that no alarms went off.

Mbugua said alarms are not part of the emergency broadcast system. Instead, Mbugua clarified, the campus emergency broadcast system includes outdoors speakers that gave instructions through an announcement. Additionally, Department of Public Safety and Princeton Police officers were on campus to instruct people to evacuate.

Students on campus reported confusion over where and how to evacuate. Those interviewed said they did not hear an emergency broadcast system announcement and that they were entirely dependent on PTENS text messages, phone calls and emails for updates.

“After my roommate and I got the warning, we didn’t know where to go. Which direction should we go?” Jimin Hong ’15 said. “My roommate told me to call Public Safety and ask them. This guy answered—no help. He said, ‘I don’t know, ma’am’ and it kind of pissed me off.”

“The school should’ve had some kind of direction for the students,” Hong added. “That was very irresponsible of them.”

Jameil Brown ’16 was in Frist Campus Center at the time of the evacuation notice. No alarms went off inside of the student center, Brown said, and occupants were only made aware of the threat by PTENS notifications.

“Someone just came in and told us we had to evacuate and it was an emergency,” Brown said. “We were not given any specific instructions other than what the alert said about getting off campus and going into town."

One of the evacuation sites, Nassau Inn, offered free wifi and water to displaced campus occupants. About a dozen students waited in the ballroom. Three studentsinterviewed in the ballroom said they had been in a lab safety course when they learned that they needed to evacuate.

According to Mbugua, approximately 6,900 individuals — including faculty, staff, students and participants in various summer programs — have been evacuated from campus.

At the time of the evacuation, there was heavy vehicular and pedestrian traffic leading away from the University. Since then, according to Cifelli, all roads from Route 1 leading to the University and Town have reopened, and there have been no additional reports of heavy traffic.

Most of the University’s approximately 5,200 students are off-campus as commencement exercises finished last week. Students with summer housing moved inMondayafternoon.

Mbugua said it is unclear if students with summer housing will be able to return. An update from the Princeton homepage said University officials hope to reopen the campus this evening.

The campus is expected to be open during regular business hourson Wednesday, according to an email from Executive Director of Public Safety Paul Ominsky sent at11:20 a.m.

Two bomb threats were reported in the area during the 2010-2011 school year, one in several laboratories and academic buildings on campus and one in Palmer Square. Both prompted evacuation orders, and all-clears were later issued in both cases.

There was another bomb threatTuesdayat the Georgia state Capitol building in Atlanta, and a threatening phone call at an airport in Richmond, Va.,USA Today reported. Both facilities were reopened within hours after no suspicious items or activity was found.

Editor-in-chief Emeritus Henry Rome contributed reporting