Philadelphia Area Colleges Warned of Social Media Threat

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the FBI has informed all Philadelphia area colleges of a recent social media post threatening violence at an area college or university on Oct. 5. While the threat does not name a specific university, it states an action could take place around 2 p.m. eastern time.

Drexel University issued a public safety advisory informing their students of the threat.

“Since the shooting last week at a community college in Oregon, the FBI has seen similar social media postings throughout the country,” the University wrote in their advisory. “Although the FBI has assured us there is no specific threat to a particular college or university, we are taking this very seriously and are taking extra precautions to protect the Drexel community.”

Drexel said they plan to provide increased patrols on Monday and are coordinating with the University of Pennsylvania and Philadelphia Police. Officials encourage the campus community to report any suspicious activity by calling Drexel Public Safety at 215-895-2222 or by calling 911.

Villanova University has also issued a similar warning to its students, reports NBC Philadelphia. In their advisory, they tell students authorities have no knowledge of a specific threat and have notified the Radnor Police Department and have increased safety patrols.

They ask the community to report any suspicious behavior to the Department of Public Safety at 610-519-4444.

Advisories are also in place at the University of Pennsylvania and at Temple University. Both schools have said they are monitoring the situation and will have increased security patrols on campus Monday.

UPenn students can report suspicious behavior via 215-573-3333, Blue Light Emergency Phones or 511 from a University telephone. Students at Temple may do so by calling 215-204-1234 (1-1234 from a campus phone).

The University of Delaware has also issued an advisory.

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