The Washington College of Law was searched around 10 p.m. Tuesday night after three e-mails received around 2:30 p.m. indicated there were bombs in the building, according to Michael McNair, chief of AU public safety. No explosives were found.
Officials waited to search the building until classes were over for the day because there was no concrete information about a date or time in the e-mail and because several other colleges have received similar e-mails that proved to be hoaxes in the last few weeks, according to McNair.
"It was reasonably clear that the e-mails were a hoax, but we wanted to do a cursory search to be sure," McNair said.
Officials also waited to search the building because they did not want to play into the hands of the people who sent the e-mails by disrupting campus extensively, according to McNair.
They decided against a full evacuation to avoid wasting resources and to prevent anyone with malicious intentions from learning the university's evacuation policies, McNair said.
"Today [Tuesday], the Department of Public Safety has received notification that an individual or group is sending e-mail bomb threats to major institutions via e-mail," according to an e-mail Public Safety sent to the AU community following the incident. "This has occurred several times in the last three days. These e-mails all appear to be hoaxes and, to date, no bomb has been found. Nonetheless, we are sending this message out as a general advisory to the AU community to be on the lookout for these e-mails and to immediately notify Public Safety at 202-885-3636 if one is received."
The e-mail made no mention of the threat to the Washington College of Law because Public Safety did not want to unnecessarily scare people, McNair said.
"I did not want to panic people for something that was essentially over," he said.
Faculty was notified of additional security at the building, according to Andy Pike, a WCL professor.
One student encountered the increased security.
"They checked my I.D. twice when I came into the garage," said Hadi Akhavannik, a first-year student at WCL.
As of Wednesday evening, students said they hadn't received any additional information about the threat after the Tuesday evening e-mail.
Students and staff did not seem concerned about the events.
Lindsay Gordon, a second-year law student, said she received the e-mail. The incident was "nothing unusual," according to her.
Maria Psilis, a first-year student at WCL, learned of the threat when she opened her e-mail on Wednesday morning. She said she wasn't too worried but would be cautious anyway.
"I guess you have to take precautions as if it is a real threat," she said.
Jeff Barskey, a member of administrative staff support, said there wasn't a substantial reason to panic.
"I won't take it seriously if there isn't a credible threat," Barskey said.
