SAMANTHA BLONS
Assistant News Editor
Pepperdine received several e-mail messages containing bomb threats overnight, according to the university’s chief administrative officer, Phil Phillips.
The university public relations office notified the student body of the threat today via e-mail at 10:34 a.m. Although the statement sent to students said there was “no indication” that the threat was credible, students were warned to report any suspicious people or packages to the campus Department of Public Safety.
The university’s emergency operations committee responded by convening and coordinating with campus, local and federal law enforcement officials, Phillips wrote in a statement to the Graphic.
Public Safety “Director [Earl] Carpenter mobilized his team to contact the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, dispatch DPS officers to sweep the campus, and bring in additional DPS personnel to augment the shift,” Phillips wrote. Pepperdine officials also sent the e-mail threats to be analyzed by the FBI, he added.
“Shortly thereafter, the FBI contacted us and opined that the potential for risk of violence as described in the emails was ‘low.’ Their analysis confirmed our best judgment,” Phillips wrote. “However, anytime violence is threatened against a part of the Pepperdine community, we take it seriously. Even after we received the threat assessment from the FBI, our DPS officers continued their sweep to be prudent.”
Phillips added that Pepperdine had been notified earlier this week that e-mail threats had been sent to several other college campuses. Neither the message sent to the student body nor Phillip’s statement to the Graphic mentioned the names or locations of these other schools.
08-29-2007