Dozens of bomb threats at University of Pittsburg leave campus on edge
(CBS/AP) PITTSBURGH - Dozens of bomb threats at the University of Pittsburgh have driven professors to holding classes outside and prompted new security measures.
According to local station WPXI, the school has received a total of 57 bomb threats since February, 12 of which were made on Monday.
There is a $50,000 reward for any information on the threats.
The threats began in mid-February, targeting a landmark building at the center of campus. But in recent weeks numerous buildings have been threatened, prompting new security measures, including mandating that students and faculty members have school IDs to get into buildings, and non-residents will not be permitted in dormitories.
University police, the FBI, and the U.S. Secret Service have said they have a person of interest in the investigation. Authorities say some of the threats have been traced to or through computers in Austria, but no one has been charged.
Fifth-year chemistry student Brian Graham said the first threats were written on walls in buildings and he hoped security officers would catch the perpetrator. But, he said, threats then started arriving by email.
"I think it's a little bit more nerve-racking," Graham said of the latest wave of threats. "I have to either stay later or come in different hours. I would be about to leave home, and then there'd be a bomb threat."
The threats have caused some professors to move classes outdoors or offer them online and have led some students to stay off campus. The university, located a few miles from downtown Pittsburgh, has about 3,800 full-time faculty members who serve 34,000 students.
The university is urging faculty members to make arrangements for students to make up classes or exams missed because of evacuations, but it says there are no plans to end the semester early.
No bombs have been found, and no one has been injured, but police say the building evacuations will continue if warranted. There have been about 25 threats targeting numerous buildings.
U.S. Attorney David Hickton in Pittsburgh issued a statement Friday commending Pitt's response and confirming the threats "are being vigorously, aggressively and thoroughly investigated through every possible mean" by the region's Joint Terrorism Task Force, which includes the campus police and the FBI.