[Knipps]

Montclair State heightens security after shooting threat

Originally Posted by http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2008/04/montclair_state_heightens_secu.html

Montclair State University heightened security and canceled all public events today due to a note that threatened a shooting on campus on April 10, university officials announced.

Officials said the note was written on a desk in Room 276 of Dickson Hall sometime between April 3 and 7. They said an investigation - including interviews with more than 300 faculty, staff and students - had yet to find any evidence the threat was credible.

But extensive precautions have been in place on the 17,000-student campus, where more than 120 officers were present today - 30 from the MSU Police Department and the balance from law enforcement agencies from throughout the region.

Numerous scheduled events were canceled, including lectures, workshops, athletic events, conferences and performances involving many hundreds of people, according to the university.

The events were cancelled to allow University Police to coordinate a massive precautionary operation, and to minimize the presence of individuals less familiar to the community and less knowledgeable about the campus, officials said.

According to an alert posted on the university's website, President Susan Cole decided to keep the University functioning as normally as possible because the investigation found no evidence to support the threat.

The university also sent a message to would-be pranksters: "It is in the best overall interests of our students and campus community not to give any single immature or disgruntled individual the power to shut down New Jersey's second largest university at any time with a single communication."

Officials ask that suspicious activity be reported to any of the officers posted by all buildings and throughout the campus - or by calling University Police at (973) 655-5222.