Classes will resume Monday morning at the University of Texas at Austin campus after the area was evacuated on Friday, and all classes were canceled for the day, after a man called in a bomb threat to the university.
Thousands of students and staff were told to leave the buildings and get as far away as possible.
According to UT Officials, the university received a call to its main number threatening several buildings. Officials said a man with a "middle eastern" accent, claiming to be affiliated with Al Qaeda said that he had placed several bombs around the campus. The caller said the bombs would go off in 90 minutes.
University officials worked with federal and governmental authorities to determine the validity of the threats. A little before 9:30 a.m. the decision was made to evacuate the buildings. Students and staff were notified via text messages, sirens on campus, through social media, the university's web site, and flat screen televisions in buildings. Officials said the text message alerts went out to approximately 67,000 people.
University of Texas President Bill Powers said the threat was not specific so they made the decision to evacuate all the buildings. He added that the buildings had been cleared by the time the threat was supposed to have taken place.
University of Texas Police worked with local and federal law enforcement to evaluate the threat. Canine officers were called in to search the buildings.
Powers stated at a press conference just after noon that officials were sure through a variety of sources that campus is safe.
The caller has not been identified and he is not in custody.
The university opened all buildings at noon on Friday, and all activities, except for classes, resumed after 5:00 p.m. Powers stated that even though the campus was safe enough to resume classes, the decision was made to cancel them due to the logistical problem of getting students who had left the area to return to class.
Thursday, May 23 2013 11:10 PM EDT2013-05-24 03:10:53 GMT
AP photo
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AP photo
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Thursday, May 23 2013 7:42 PM EDT2013-05-23 23:42:40 GMT
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Courtesy Jenn Cowan
