UChicago Cancels Monday Classes Due To FBI Threat Warning

By Rachel Cromidas in News on Nov 30, 2015 3:06AM

The University of Chicago has announced it is cancelling all classes and campus activities Monday due to an FBI warning about an online threat against the South Side school.

The online posting threatened gun violence against the Hyde Park campus, according to a statement issued by the university, and it is being investigated by the FBI.

“All University staff and faculty members who do not have emergency duties or patient care responsibilities are encouraged to avoid coming to the Hyde Park campus on Monday,” University President Robert J. Zimmer said in the statement, published online Sunday evening.

The University of Chicago Medical Center will be open to patients Monday, but other campus facilities, including the Laboratory Schools, the Quadrangle Club and the university's libraries, will be closed. Some university students live on campus in campus housing.

Zimmer said there will be, "an increased police and security presence on and around campus," in response to the threat, "including police personnel with visible weapons and other additional measures.”

FBI counterterrorism officials warned school officials of the threat Sunday, after seeing an online posting in which someone threatened to bring gun violence to "the campus quad" at 10 a.m. Monday morning, according to the university.

Classes are being cancelled “based on the FBI’s assessment of this threat and recent tragic events at other campuses across the country,” Zimmer said.

The statement also said people should contact the university's police department at 773.702.8181 with urgent questions or reports of anything unusual.