Bridgewater State College officials on alert after threatening messages found
By Jillian Jorgensen, Globe Correspondent
Bridgewater State College officials say they are increasing security after threatening messages were found written inside women's bathroom toilet stalls in four buildings on the campus today.
"The threats were not specific enough to warrant closing the college but we did decide that we would step up our police presence on campus for the next few days," David Ostroth, vice president for student affairs at the college, said this evening.
The threats, written inside bathrooms in the student center, the campus library and two academic buildings, mentioned the date Feb. 28, but did not mention any specific targets or methods, Ostroth said.
"For the most part [the messages] were one word, sometimes a word repeated" and the date, Ostroth said. "They had words like 'death' and 'murder' in them."
The first message was found around 10 a.m. and the last around 4 p.m., he said.
"I think with the news that has been happening in the last year, and even in the last week or two in higher education with attacks on campuses, we have to take this kind of thing seriously," Ostroth said.
In addition to stepping up police presence, the college sent out an e-mail message to students just after 4 p.m. today and called faculty and staff with an automated telephone message, Ostroth said.
"We asked for people to be vigilant," he said.
Ostroth said the college was also offering a $500 award for any information leading to the author of the messages.
