<p>My S is freshman at Pitt. Somehow my home phone, cell phone, work phone made their way to Pitt's Emergency Notification System.
On our way back from sending him to Pitt last summer, we rec'd first ENS alert that D.C. had an earthquake. Some felt the impact at Pitt, but no damage. I thought, wow, ENS is cool, keeping me in touch. After that, there had been a couple of ENS broadcast of campus power outages, which I think is appropriate.
Now comes the bad part.
In the past month or so, it has been a daily routine to receive a msg like "A bomb threat has been received at Cathedral (or replace it with Chevron, Thackeray, Lawrence, et al). Please evacuate as soon as possible. If safe, please tell others". When they come, they storm my channels of communications, whether I'm on a personal call, a conference call, what's so ever. And with texting ringing, I'm having an orchestra! Now, multiply that by two when the threat is cleared. And multiply that by two again when there're two threats a day, which seems to be a norm in the past week.
I am extremely annoyed. But with the mandatory evacuation, I have to wonder, how much is this impacting students' learning??? Can Pitt police do a better job beyond broadcasting, sweeping, and broadcasting again (BSB routine)? Where are you in terms of catching up the culprit? Who ever is sending the bomb threats, SHAME ON YOU! If you're caught as a Pitt student, you should be expelled RIGHT AWAY and slammed with a civil penalty equal to 1% of all Pitt students' tuition.
Students, parents, prospective Pitt students/parents, let's run a digital march against bomb threats or any disruptions to learning.</p>
<p>Ohoho, he/she is going to get slammed way harder than that. Probably 30 years in federal prison.</p>
<p>And Pitt sent out a letter of what they are currently doing. They hired dogs, hand writing analysts, FBI, took the stalls out of bathrooms, everything they can do.</p>
<p>Each time a bomb threat occurs, students are losing AT LEAST $50 per class if you pay IN STATE tuition. This needs to stop and I’m sorry to say, but it is damaging their reputation even though it shouldn’t. :-/</p>
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<p>It seems that the only way for ENS to receive your contact information is by logging in to my.pitt.edu as a student and signing up for this service. The reason why you’re receiving all of these notifications is because your son probably entered your contact information on there. If you no longer want to receive these notifications, this can be easily remedied by asking your son to remove your contact information. If you only want to receive alerts through certain means of communication (like text messages or e-mail only), he can edit your contact info there to reflect your preferences.</p>
<p>Here’s a little more information about Pitt’s ENS if you’re interested: <a href=“http://technology.pitt.edu/portal/emergency/emergency-notification.html[/url]”>Article - Subscribe and Receive Emerg...;
<p>Another way to get alerted w/o signing up for the ENS is to like Pitt on Facebook. They always publish them shortly after they are issued. I typcially see them on FB and text my S to see if he was impacted. BTW, I vote for shipping the culprit to Gitmo!</p>
<p>My daughter (freshman engineering major at Pitt) told me that there’s a $50,000 bounty on catching this person now. She said that they had traced his email IP address to two different countries in Europe, but police are considering that he might be local and is simply scrambling his address to avoid detection/capture. I hope they throw the book at whoever is doing this. Three bomb threats, so far, this week. Thirteen total for the month, I believe.</p>
<p>Three more buildings evacuated 20 minutes ago. I hope the guilty party faces state and federal charges that put him/her away for a long, long time.</p>
<p>Parent of a freshman daughter here. Tower C (her dorm) was just evacuated again. She said the whole place is on edge, with nobody wanting to spend the night in their own dorm. We actually went and brought she and a friend back to our home last night (we are local). Tonight they are spending the night with friends at CMU. These poor kids can’t study, sleep well, or even go to class. I’m glad that the semester is almost over and that she’s living off campus next year.</p>
<p>If you are a prospective Pitt student or parent, please don’t let these bomb threats deter you from attending Pitt next year. It’s truly tragic that the actions of one or two people on some kind of power trip are putting such a damper on an entire University. Yes, once found guilty, they will find themselves in prison. It will basically ruin their life and their parents if it’s a student. I hope they think it’s worth what ever thrill they get when a building empties because of one of their threats. </p>
<p>The Pittsburgh Post Gazette has been running daily articles and if the threats have come in different ways, writing on walls, calls and emails.
Let’s hope it all ends soon.</p>
<p>Today’s article:
[Bomb</a> threats clear three Pitt buildings; Cathedral closed for evening - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette](<a href=“http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/neighborhoods-city/bomb-threats-clear-three-pitt-buildings-629871/]Bomb”>http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/neighborhoods-city/bomb-threats-clear-three-pitt-buildings-629871/)</p>
<p>Article from 3/31 had more details:
[Pitt</a> bomb threats frustrate students, faculty](<a href=“http://old.post-gazette.com/pg/12091/1220837-53.stm]Pitt”>http://old.post-gazette.com/pg/12091/1220837-53.stm)
[More</a> bomb threats disrupt Pitt routine](<a href=“http://old.post-gazette.com/pg/12094/1221371-53.stm]More”>http://old.post-gazette.com/pg/12094/1221371-53.stm)</p>
<p>My son’s a freshman in Litchfield and has been evacuated in the middle of the night, and has had classes cancelled. I think that the students who aren’t scared are angry. Not what we were looking for in a college experience, obviously. I know that the university is limited in what they can do, and they’ve now got all kinds of help, but it’s still a horrible college experience. If we weren’t out of state I would have had him move back home and just drive to campus for absolutely required classes. I wish we had other options - I’d be in favor of ending the term early.</p>
<p>As a current Pitt student, I can say that I still feel 100% safe on campus. The bomb threats have been annoying, but the University has been doing all that they can to keep life on campus as normal as possible. There are several students who are being very over-dramatic and fearful regarding the threats, and unfortunately they are able to reach a lot of people via social media. But I can tell you that the majority of students still feel safe, are still staying in their dorms, and are going on with life as normal. Sure, most students have had at least one class cancelled this semester due to the threats, and it has been disruptive, but not nearly as much as some students are making it out to be. The comments about attending “The University of Baghdad” and people feeling unsafe walking around campus and sleeping in their own beds are ridiculous and completely out of line. People are forgetting that not one person has been physically harmed in any way thus far, and all the buildings evacuated have been searched with no evidence of any bombs. So are all the threats annoying? Yes. But I don’t feel unsafe at all, and it frustrates me that students are moving off campus or calling for term to end. Those actions give the bomb threat person exactly what he wants: to disturb campus life.</p>
<p>I agree with zmvnyy. Ending the term early would just be giving in to the idiots that are trying to disrupt life. My DS is a Freshman and is annoyed, has had tests delayed, however fortunately has not had to leave his dorm (I’m knocking on wood as I speak). We are looking forward to visiting him this weekend as we had planned to a month ago. If anything this teaches kids that have had a reasonably easy life so far, that things don’t always go as planned and you have to adapt and go with the flow. I had a similar situation in college where a newly installed fire alarm in my dorm went off 2 or 3 times a night for about two weeks and we had to go outside every single time. You knew there wasn’t a fire but you went out anyway. We also had bomb threats before big tests given by the accounting department. You just have to deal with what is thrown at you and pray they figure out who the culprit is soon!</p>
<p>I think this has become very distracting to students at this point. My freshman D is quite concerned and I sense that anxiety is spreading through the student body. </p>
<p>Here is a link to information for parents. [Parents</a> | Student Affairs Home](<a href=“http://www.studentaffairs.pitt.edu/parents]Parents”>Parent and Family Resources | Student Affairs)</p>
<p>Totally agree with zmvnyy and TitanMom16. Get used to curve balls. We’re going to see our S this weekend for Easter and we’ll get a sense of his level of annoyance. However, he’s probably viewing this as a $50,000 opportunity instead. </p>
<p>It’s pretty rare that the culprit hasn’t told anyone else about this or someone hasn’t found out accidently (like viewing sent emails). This person seems technically sharp (hiding IP addresses) which probably describes about 15,000 Pitt and CMU students. Just thinking about it, this is really a case of domestic terrorism. Can this person be tried under those federal statutes? Maybe my flippant Gitmo comment isn’t so far fetched after all?</p>
<p>As an engineering student who lives off campus, I can honestly say that beyond getting texts from ENS all day and having a few sidewalks blocked, my life has not be altered AT ALL from these threats. (It helps that Benedum has never been targeted). </p>
<p>The biggest problem we have right now is complacency and over reaction: Either people don’t take the threats seriously at all, or people are over reacting and not staying in their dorm.</p>
<p>Should we take the threat seriously? Yes, it’s a threat, and I’m glad that Pitt is doing everything it can to make sure every building affected is actually safe. With that said, nothing has ever been found and for now, the campus remains as safe as ever. I worry, though, that people get used to these threats, don’t take them seriously, and then one day something bad (not necessarily a bomb) does happen.</p>
<p>My overall point is that we should not go to the extremes (either not caring or caring too much). Right now, we need to stay alert and observant. But that doesn’t mean that we should do it to the point of not continuing life as always.</p>
<p>Awesome - glad there is some normalcy still around campus, it is hard as a parent to just get the ENS texts and not feel like you want to take your kid out of there. Maybe being 6 hrs away makes me feel even more anxious. Anyway, I appreciate your post ALOT. I have found this pretty helpful too: stopthepittbombthreats (dot) blogspot (dot) com</p>
<p>Yes, thx Awesome. You put it in perspective. However, that said, our 4 hour drive tomorrow to the Burgh will be a tad more anxious than normal.</p>
<p>You can’t change how people are feeling about this situation. My D is home now, opting not to attend classes tomorrow. She is nervous, but did not come to her decision to come home lightly. Many of her classes have mandatory attendance policies and she is concerned about how her grades will be determined. She went to her class at the Cathedral this morning, and shortly thereafter, was notified of a bomb threat in that building, along with 3 others at the same time. Since her dorm has been evacuated twice now, her experience may be different than others. I can tell you this though, many of the kids in Tower C are leaving for the weekend. I’m not overly concerned, but I don’t live there. As her parents, we have to take her feelings seriously. She’s been unable to sleep well, attend many of her classes and study fully.</p>
<p>The next few weeks should be interesting.</p>
<p>I think we can expect these bomb threats to continue until they catch the perpetrator.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, until the individual (s) are caught there will continue to be tension on campus. Also, as much as students and others don’t want to give them any publicity, the semester may have to end early. No doubt that “safety comes first”. But, that’s just it…With the number of threats being received, the university will have to make a decision soon about the semester because of the liability. </p>
<p>With the number of students in dorms, the number of floors in buildings, especially the Cathedral of Learning, and the amount of time it takes to clear and inspect buildings…they are having a hard time keeping up. Is it fair to continue this for another 3 wks? </p>
<p>Also, unless someone is caught before the Fall term the school’s attendance will suffer. </p>
<p>I’m praying nothing happens.</p>
<p>My S is a Senior now at Pitt, living in S Oakland. He has always felt safe on campus for the past 4 years, lived in the dorms for 3 years and is looking forward to Graduation at the Pete. He and the University have survived the G2 riots in Fall 2009, Steeler Super Bowl riots, and some pretty bad snow storms that closed the school for a week The Pitt Admin, Security, Academic and Housing staff is to be commended. What a shame that because of this domestic terrorism, Pitt is considering cancelling all Commencement celebrations. What a shame because of some sick twisted mind getting jollies by creating fake bomb threats</p>