Ohio State Bomb Threat

Four buildings on The Ohio State University campus were evacuated Tuesday after the FBI’s Columbus, Ohio, bureau notified the university it had received an anonymous message that explosives were placed in the buildings, authorities said.

The buildings are the William Oxley Thompson Memorial Library, the McPherson Chemical Lab, Smith Laboratory and Scott Laboratory. Classes in the three academic buildings involved were canceled, and all four buildings were closed until at least 5 p.m. or until the investigation is complete, according to Vernon Baisden, the university’s director of public safety.

Authorities did not identify the source of the bomb threats at Ohio State, one of the nation’s largest universities with more than 56,000 students enrolled on its Columbus campus.

“There have been no suspicious package or devices found at this time,” university police Chief Paul Denton said at a news conference. He and other university officials did not offer information on the nature of the threats and declined to speculate on why the four buildings were targeted.

All were evacuated and closed as investigators went through them with bomb-sniffing dogs, and authorities also closed off three streets.

Students and faculty were warned by text-message alerts and online and phone messages to stay clear of the buildings until 5 p.m. The buildings would remain closed at least until that time, with their regular classes and other activities canceled, said Vernon Baisden, the university’s director public safety.

The university was notified of the threat at 8:19 a.m. and activated its Buckeye Alert System at 8:41 a.m., according to a message posted on the Ohio State website.