This is a story about an ongoing event. We will be updating this story as new information is made available and continueing to investigate the issue.
Bond Hall was closed over the weekend after a bomb threat was posted to Discord, an instant messaging and voice chat platform. The university says the message, which was posted on Friday evening, is not viewed as a credible threat to the health and safety of campus.
The threat was detailed in a Western Campus Advisory sent to students and staff on Monday early afternoon.
According to the alert, the threat was posted to a Discord server run by Western students that is specific to Bond Hall.
Screenshots of the threat and the conversation leading up to it were sent directly to University police at 2:27 AM on Saturday, September 11. Moderators of the server suspect the person who posted the threat was a user who had been removed previously for posting offensive material and reappeared with a different username.
University police are working directly with Discord to find out more information about the individual.
Police conducted a walkthrough of Bond Hall and are continuing to monitor the building and the situation at hand. Bond Hall will continue to be locked to the public, but employees can still enter. The investigation is ongoing.
The threat was not believed to be credible, according to the email. Students are encouraged to report anything suspicious that they see.
Do you have additional information about the bomb threat or the person who published it? We’d love to hear from you. We take privacy seriously and won’t publish your name without explicit permission from you. You can get in touch by emailing eic.westernfront@gmail.com or by DMing us on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook.
Last March, police were called to the Performing Arts Center plaza after someone reported what they thought might be an improvised explosive device.
The package was located next to the leg of “For Handel,” the large red sculpture outside the PAC. Upon inspection, police determined that the device was constructed using fragrance bottles bound together with a scarf and yellow caution tape. In the police report, the officer at the scene wrote that the items appeared to be purposely packaged and positioned to look like a threat.
Emily Bassett (she/her) is the campus news editor for The Front in spring of 2022. She is a third-year, majoring in medieval literature with minors in communication studies and education & social justice. Her writing interests include focusing on education issues and building community relationships. She likes discussions about grammar, deep dives into Old English literature, and baking in her free time. You can reach her at campusnewseditor.thefront@gmail.com or emilybassett.westernfront@gmail.com
