Latest bomb threats make 80

Pitt received 13 bomb threats on Thursday, five of which evacuated residence halls in the early… Pitt received 13 bomb threats on Thursday, five of which evacuated residence halls in the early morning.

The University sent out an Emergency Notification System alert at 5:30 a.m. notifying the campus about threats at Forbes Hall, Ruskin Hall, Lothrop Hall, Pennsylvania Hall and Bruce Hall. The threats were cleared about two hours later.

Later that morning, the University sent out an ENS alert at 10:20 a.m. for threats at Hillman Library, Frick Fine Arts, David Lawrence Hall, Posvar Hall, the William Pitt Union and the University Club.

Less than an hour later, at 11:10 a.m., Pitt sent out another ENS alert for a bomb threat at Panther Central.

Pitt cleared all of those buildings, allowing people to resume normal operations at 12:15 p.m.

At 6:45 p.m. the Cathedral of Learning was evacuated due to another bomb threat, bringing the total number of bomb threats this semester to 80.

Seung-Hwan Shin, a Ph.D. candidate in Pitt’s English department, was teaching his course Introduction to Korea Through Film when the alarm sounded in Posvar Hall. His class was forced to wait outside while authorities cleared the building.

Shin said that this is the first time he had to stop teaching a course due to the alarms, and he considers himself lucky compared to colleagues who have had to accommodate repeated disruptions.

He said he has seen the effects of the persistent threats on his students.

“I have heard my students talking about class cancellations, and a few of my students have left campus,” he said.

Sophomore Dakotah Quintiliani had to relocate from David Lawrence Hall to outside the Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall with his Calculus III class. However he said the threat to his dorm, McCormick Hall, on April 9 around 1 p.m. was more disruptive.

“I was not really worried about it until about a week ago, but once [the threats] have started hitting the dorms, you can tell everyone is kind of on edge,” he said.