University Police swept the Health Services building at 4:10 and reopened it after determining a bomb threat was not credible, according to the NIU Web site.

An alert regarding a bomb threat was posted on the NIU homepage at 2:18 p.m.

A bomb threat targeting the NIU Health Services building (near the intersection of Lucinda and Normal Road) was received today around 2 p.m. Police cleared the building.

A University Police officer confirmed at least two K-9 units were on scene. No use of a bomb squad was reported.

Melanie Magara, assistant vice president of Public Affairs, released information about the bomb threat on the Health Services building.

The threat was written on a piece of paper found in a stairwell in the Health Services building, Magara said.

“The two things in this particular threat that got the police to evacuate the building was the location and the time of the threat,” Magara said.

The threat detailed that the location of the bomb was in the Health Services building and listed a specific time at which the bomb would detonate. Magara said that with that level of specificity, the University Police were required to respond to the threat.

“Our people are working on it,” said NIU President John Peters. “We are handling this the way we would handle a bomb threat and we are taking it seriously.”

Classes resumed as normal, since no classrooms were affected by the closures and the bomb threat, the Web site said at 3:50 p.m.

A perimeter was set up, preventing all vehicle and pedestrian traffic along from Garden Street to Normal Road along South Lucinda Avenue. Along Normal Road, pedestrians were not allowed to cross north past Williston Hall. Students were allowed to walk into Wirtz Hall, just east of the Health Services building.

Police removed the perimeter and allowed traffic through on Lucinda Avenue at 4:04 p.m.

A campus-wide voicemail was sent to faculty at 2:52 p.m.

All staff of the Health Services Building were sent to the lobby of Wirtz Hall.

Wiliston Hall and McMurry Hall were not evacuated.

One DeKalb Police Department officer assisted traffic control, but DeKalb police were not called in to assist, said Lt. Gary Spangler of the DeKalb Police Department.


Sam Brunell, Alan Edrinn, Patrick Yeagle, Herminia Irizarry, Justin Weaver and Ben Burr contributed to this report.

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