Recent bomb threat, gunman sightings set UNL students, faculty on edge

A bomb threat caused students and faculty to evacuate the College of Business Administration at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Friday morning.

UNL officials told the Daily Nebraskan that police searched the building thoroughly, but ultimately did not find a bomb.

A student reported the threat after finding a note in a first-floor bathroom that said a bomb would go off at 11:45 a.m., said Donde Plowman, dean of CBA.

Friday's bomb threat was the third campus threat in the past month. Feb. 24 and 25 both saw gunman scares, with the latter being determined a hoax according to UNL officials. But with the difficulty of telling hoaxes and real threats apart, some students and faculty have grown uneasy.

Betsy Roche, a junior advertising major, said if students grow accustomed to these scares, the campus attitude toward threats of violence may become a joke. That, she said, is when truly bad things can happen.

She added that she hoped the bomb threat culprit's motive was not to get out of a test.

"If I don't want to go to class, I just don't go," Roche said. "I don't make a bomb threat."

Before Friday, the last bomb threat made at UNL occurred on April 20, 2007. That day, Othmer Hall received a bomb threat, thereby closing the building for two hours.

The threat came just four days after the shooting at Virginia Tech, which claimed 33 lives and injured many others.

UNL Chancellor Harvey Perlman told the Daily Nebraskan that day the bomb threat wasn't legitimate, but rather one of many nationwide threats on college campuses that week.

Like many UNL students, Kay Norgard, a senior art history and advertising major, said she didn't take the Feb. 25 Oldfather Hall gunman scare seriously because those sorts of things don't happen in cities like Lincoln.

"Who's spreading these rumors?" Norgard said after she first heard of the scare in the campus' tallest building.

UNL Dean of Students Matthew Hecker said there are several possible explanations for the past month's campus threats.

First, he said the events might be the result of someone acting foolishly.

Second, it may be the case that the culprit knew what they were doing and acted intentionally.

Worse yet, Hecker said, it is also possible the threats are a "ping" test of UNL's emergency response, used to gauge how the university responds to scares.  

People typically make bomb threats for two reasons, according to a report by the FBI. The first is that the caller wants to interrupt the day's schedule.

"Sometimes we see them tied to an upset employee or when there is something going on in school, such as a test," said Tom Muller, a sergeant in the Omaha Police Bomb Squad.

The FBI report also noted some bomb threats could be the result of an informant who wants to minimize injury.

Muller said Omaha police and schools inform students that if a bomb threat is made, the culprit will face prosecution.

Regardless of whether the threat is a prank or not, the suspect would be charged with making terroristic threats, a Class IV felony, he said. Those convicted of making a bomb threat could see as many as five years in jail and a $10,000 fine.

On campus, a student found guilty of making a bomb threat or misreporting a gunman would at least face suspension, Hecker said.

Depending on the severity of the incident, he said the culprit might also face expulsion from UNL. False alarms, including bomb threats, are against the UNL Student Code of Conduct.

As an example of how cases are judged, Hecker cited an incident several years ago where a student wielding a toy pistol yelled "Get down!" among a large group of people.

Bystanders, unaware the gun was a toy, complied.

Hecker said this kind of interruption "doesn't belong in the academic community," but the fake gun was enough to warrant a suspension.

RileyJohnson@DailyNebraskan.com