Series of bomb threats shuts four Ivy League schools

It was unclear if the incidents were related

Cornell University in Ithca, New York (WikiCommons)

Students were forced to evacuate buildings at several Ivy League campuses this weekend after a number of bomb threats.

At least four Ivy League schools were targeted by unfounded threats, according to law enforcement. They were Yale, Cornell, Brown, and Columbia.

The bomb threats began when a caller told Yale University that there were 40 bombs on its campus in New Haven, Connecticut, on Friday afternoon.

Yale closed down buildings, the Yale theater and the Yale University Art Gallery, according to CBS New York. It did not reopen for around five hours.

An investigation by New Haven Police, Yale Police, Connecticut State Police and the FBI found that the bomb threat was unfounded.

That was followed by bomb threats at Cornell University, Brown University and Columbia University, that were also made by an unidentified caller on Sunday.

Kay, a student interviewed by Fox News about the evacuation of buildings at Cornell’s campuses in Ithaca, New York, told the TV network that he was alerted to a bomb threat and ran from a Starbucks.

“After [Starbucks] said they were locking the doors up, a fair amount of people headed out back home, and then outside there was a ton of people running into Collegetown from campus,” he said.

All three Ivy League schools closed a number of buildings, and the bomb threats were deemed not credible by law enforcement hours later.

Cornell University tweeted: “Law enforcement has concluded search of the Ithaca campus; no credible threats were found. It is safe to resume all normal activities.”

It remains unclear if the threats at all four Ivy League schools were connected.

There are eight universities in the northeastern US that are considered to be Ivy League. They are Brown, Harvard, Cornell, Princeton, Dartmouth, Yale, Columbia and Pennsylvania.

Additional reporting by Reuters.