“U. of C. cancels Monday classes after threat to Hyde Park campus”
The University of Chicago announced Sunday that all classes and other activities planned for Monday on its Hyde Park campus will be canceled after FBI counterterrorism officials informed the university of a gun violence threat to the campus.
God almighty. …
When will this lunacy end?
I really have to wonder if this is the new norm.
I can’t imagine the positions the admins must be in- cancel and it turn out to be a hoax (which is the most likely scenario) or don’t and watch a bloodbath unfold?
As a post-Columbine student, violence in schools was always a threat. School was never viewed as “safe”. I guess it makes sense that it has followed us into our college years.
^ I think you are correct, romani. But I think this is terribly scary and sad.
My daughters’ large high school was totally evacuated at least once during D2’s time there. I was relieved that the administration took threats seriously. When I was in grade school (during the 1960s), there were several “false” fire alarms. I knew the girl who pulled the alarm.
We had several incidents at my high school. That’s what happens when you have over 6,000 students. We were evacuated a few times, on lockdown a few, and, my personal favorite, made national headlines when we had a kid who killed for fun.
But high school incidents seem so much stranger than college ones. High school I can understand because you’re in such an enclosed place and that can heighten the danger. I’m not really sure how you can keep an average, sprawling campus safe.
The seminary I attended is on the edge of the U of C campus - I just checked their website - they are closing tomorrow, too.
Scary!
It’s kind of an odd threat. If someone were to “terrorize Chicago,” they’d target something downtown, like the John Hancock building or the Tribune building or the Sears Tower or the train stations, not something in Hyde Park which is off the beaten path for most in Chicago. I wonder if this is someone with a specific U of C beef.
http://www.uchicago.edu/emergency/
A couple of years ago the same thing happened at Harvard. Threat was made by a student who was unprepared for an exam.
Finals don’t start until next Monday, the 7th.
I certainly hope they identify the source so students (including my D) can return to campus tomorrow without fear of the person making the threat deciding to “reschedule.”
My D is at the Law School, my niece is in the Graduate School, and friends have their kids at the Lab School. All cancelled classes today. My concern is that until they identify the source of the threat there is always the possibility that the person will “reschedule.” My D lives about a mile off-campus, and the Law School is across the Midway, so I am more nervous for the University-community than I am for her, but it’s still a terrifying sign of our times.
oh my…
edit…cross posted with rosered…
Person in custody:
https://news.uchicago.edu/article/2015/11/30/update-campus-threat
Clearly a hate crime threat. He was going to kill 16 white males and rid the world of as many white devils as he could.
Thank goodness he was sufficiently narcissistic to post his death threat online first.
But I thought Chicago had the toughest gun laws in the nation… Oh wait…
Shaking my head. Local news said he didn’t have a gun or any facility to carry out the threat – it was just a hoax. But he’s going to have a federal felony now. Dumb, dumb, dumb way to ruin his promising young life…
A 21 year old man in Chicago not having a gun…yeah right.