September 14th, 2012
11:00 AM ET

No bombs found after evacuations at 2 universities

[Updated at 1:51 p.m. ET] No explosives were found at two U.S. universities that had ordered evacuations after they received bomb threats Friday morning, officials said.

The evacuations happened at the University of Texas at Austin and North Dakota State University. People were allowed back into the University of Texas buildings at noon CT Friday, though Friday's classes have been canceled, the school said on its website.

Police and federal authorities, including a bomb squad, investigated the Texas threats. A University of Texas police spokesman told CNN that "it was a general bomb threat on campus." A university spokeswoman told CNN affiliate KXAN that a male claiming to be with al Qaeda called the university and said that bombs were placed all over campus, and that they would go off at about 10 a.m. CT (11 a.m. ET).

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About 51,000 students attend the flagship university, which is located in central Texas. University spokeswoman Rhonda Weldon said that at any time up to 70,000 people could be on campus.

North Dakota State University told its students and employees to leave campus entirely by 10:15 a.m. CT, according to its website. A NDSU official later said that the campus had been swept, and classes would resume at 2 p.m. CT.

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soundoff (285 Responses)
  1. Swatguy

    Absolutely the wrong steps to take for general bomb threats....last thing we law enforcement need are mass evacuations from places of relative safety into potential killing zones for snipers and bombers in the open.

    September 14, 2012 at 4:14 pm | Report abuse |
  2. Badly-Bent

    Sounds like somebody is going to spend some time behind bars and possibly be sent back to that wonderful place called the middle east?

    September 14, 2012 at 4:24 pm | Report abuse |
  3. Skeptic

    Don't treat all threats as credible. We would be at the mercy of terrorists.

    September 14, 2012 at 4:47 pm | Report abuse |
    • banasy©

      You KNOW what'll happen the first time you don't...

      September 14, 2012 at 5:13 pm | Report abuse |
  4. Chris

    Probably trying to get out of a test.

    September 14, 2012 at 5:49 pm | Report abuse |
  5. Big_Jack

    How bout someone didn't want to take that test today

    September 14, 2012 at 6:18 pm | Report abuse |
  6. tango01

    This is the beginning of the semester so it is not possible that someone called to escape an exam (too early for test season). I see two possibilities here and both involve real terrorists:
    1) A cheap simple way to cause disruption
    2) A test run to see how emergency services respond.

    September 14, 2012 at 7:15 pm | Report abuse |
  7. ken1lutheran

    Valparaiso University also received such a threat.

    September 14, 2012 at 8:39 pm | Report abuse |
    • banasy©

      Valpo received a threat via "graffiti", (?) and no classes were canceled.
      Campus security was increased, but otherwise, it was a normal day.

      September 14, 2012 at 10:03 pm | Report abuse |
  8. RUFFNUTT ( D.M.I. ALLIANCE LOGISTICS OFFICER )

    sad...all those students displaced...
    .

    September 16, 2012 at 1:41 pm | Report abuse |
  9. Damanthia

    Has AQ sleepers activated? Or just someone's sick joke? Hope they can trace that call. Let's also hope that we aren't too reactionary and start pulling student visas.

    September 17, 2012 at 2:16 am | Report abuse |
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