- Multiple universities evacuated buildings in response to bomb threats Thursday evening.
- New York University, University of Southern California, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology were affected.
- It is not immediately clear if the threats are related.
Buildings at multiple universities were evacuated Thursday evening after both universities received bomb threats.
It was not immediately clear if the threats were related.
Shortly after 4:30 p.m. Pacific Time, Grace Ford Salvatori Hall, Sample Hall, and Wallis Annenberg Hall at University of Southern California were evacuated due to a bomb threat. The school's Department of Public Safety and the Los Angeles Police Department later deemed the buildings safe about half an hour later and reopened the buildings.
Around 6:30 p.m. Eastern time, New York University also received bomb threats for several locations on campus, prompting an evacuation of the Stern School of Business, Center for Neural Science, and Hebrew Union College. The evacuation was completed shortly after 8 p.m. local time, and law enforcement is currently investigating.
"Our first priority is the safety of our community," a spokesperson for NYU told Insider. "NYU moved quickly to evacuate the buildings and alert law enforcement, and to notify Hebrew Union College."
"Police are on the scene and proceeding with their investigation," the spokesperson continued. "We've advised occupants of the buildings to proceed to the Kimmel Center or Bobst Library until law enforcement completes their investigation."
At 9:35 p.m. ET, the school tweeted that, "The NYPD concluded their investigation of the bomb threat received earlier this evening and issued an all clear. NYU community members can return to any of the evacuated buildings in line with their regular hours."
On Thursday, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology also evacuated a building after receiving a bomb threat.
"The Cambridge Police were notified and are working to investigating these threats, which were received via phone, in collaboration with MIT PD and their officials," the Cambridge Police Department tweeted at 6:42 p.m. ET. "At this time, no evidence has been found to substantiate the threats."
The CPD later tweeted that the area was cleared.
"While similar threats have been called into or sent via social media to universities nationwide over the past week, we are collectively operating out of an abundance of caution and thoroughly inspecting the campus," the CPD tweeted.
The evacuations followed bomb threats currently under investigation at Columbia, Brown, and Cornell over the weekend. Police at all three universities said they found no credible threats as of Sunday night, Insider's Sarah Al-Arshani reported.