SIUE on alert after bomb threat found

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville was on alert status Monday after a bomb threat was found in a campus restroom Friday.

SIUE police were alerted Friday afternoon after a faculty member found a message written on the wall of the third-floor women’s restroom in Peck Hall: “This school will be bombed at 1500 on Monday, December 7.”

SIUE Police Chief Kevin Schmoll said the Illinois Secretary of State’s bomb unit swept the interior and exterior of Peck Hall on Sunday and again on Monday morning and found nothing. Additional officers were put on duty at all three campuses.

“It’s a very low threat,” Schmoll said. Police have received no further phone calls or threats, he said, and building service workers were alerted to inform them if they see anything suspicious. The university community was informed via email and if any faculty, students or staff see anything unusual, they were instructed to contact SIUE Police, he said.

No classes were canceled. “Everything will be going forward as scheduled,” Schmoll said Monday morning. “But we will be vigilant throughout the day.”

In his email to the university community, interim chancellor Stephen Hansen said the university took the threat seriously because SIUE’s primary concern is the safety of its students, faculty, staff and guests, but that they wanted to keep disruptions and inconveniences to a minimum.

This story was originally published December 7, 2015 at 11:24 AM with the headline "SIUE on alert after bomb threat found."