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David M. Van Slyke, the dean of the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, sent an email Monday afternoon to Maxwell students, faculty and staff with details regarding Friday afternoon’s false bomb threat.

Van Slyke wrote that someone called the Dean’s Office saying they had planted bombs around the Maxwell School around 4 p.m. The caller said they planned to detonate the bombs and also “indicated plans to harm themselves.”

The office’s staff kept the caller on the line for approximately 11 minutes, attempting to gather information about the caller and threat. At the same time, other staff in the office contacted DPS, the email stated.

While the caller was still on the line, DPS dispatched a response team who arrived at the office and surveilled the building with assistance from the Syracuse Police Department, according to the email. Through a review of available video footage and “other details that cannot be divulged due to the ongoing investigation into these instances,” DPS determined the report was false.

The call ended at approximately 4:09 p.m., Van Slyke wrote, and DPS sent the campus-wide email communication at 4:23 p.m.

“It is important to note, however, that all three events we’ve experienced in the past week were hoaxes and that at no point was the danger described by callers real,” Van Slyke wrote. “The intent of calls like this … is to cause disruption and utilize resources. Had events or threats been confirmed by DPS, Orange Alert communications would have been used by DPS to relay further information and instructions.”

DPS previously confirmed it received two false reports of an active shooter at the Maxwell School on the night of Feb. 11 and the late morning of Feb. 12, according to an email sent on Feb. 12.

DPS and SPD jointly determined that the false reports on Feb. 11 and 12 were instances of swatting, which is when a person falsely reports a threat to law enforcement with the intent to force a response from police, DPS wrote in an email sent Monday night.

“Together with our law enforcement partners, we are investigating who is responsible for making this false report, as well as the false reports we received last earlier this week,” DPS wrote in Friday’s email.

Van Slyke acknowledged the threats had a “very real” and “unsettling” impact on students, faculty and staff. He wrote that a Barnes Center at The Arch representative would be at the entrance of Eggers Hall from 12 to 1 p.m. on Monday and Tuesday with information about mental health resources, including counseling services.

He also wrote that Cory Wallack, associate vice president of student health and wellness at the Barnes Center, will host a “meet and greet” for Maxwell students in the Academic Village in Eggers Hall on Wednesday from 12 to 12:30 p.m.

The Maxwell School, along with DPS and the Barnes Center, will also be holding three sessions for faculty, staff, teaching assistants and graduate students to discuss emergency situations, according to the email. The first session, which will go over emergency preparedness, is scheduled for Friday at 1 p.m.

“I am sharing these details because I want everyone to understand the many challenges and rapidly evolving nature of events like this, as well as the amount of thought and care it takes to respond to unconfirmed threat events in real time,” Van Slyke wrote.

This post will be updated with additional reporting.

Published on February 19, 2024 at 3:28 pm

Contact Kendall: kaluther@syr.edu