Valparaiso University issues warning after finding vague threat

VALPARAISO, Ind. (AP) -- Valparaiso University increased security and warned students Friday after spotting a vague threat in restroom graffiti. The university took action as bomb threats caused evacuations at campuses in Texas and North Dakota.

While discovery of the graffiti triggered a student alert and a police search, Provost Mark Schwehn said school officials never considered cancelling classes. They did notify the FBI, and officers from several area police agencies and dogs searched the major public buildings on campus. They found nothing suspicious, Schwehn said at an afternoon news conference.

The message was found shortly after noon Thursday in a restroom in Neils Science Center, and officials met that night to discuss their reaction, Schwehn said. The graffiti claimed "dangerous and criminal activity" would occur on campus Friday during the university's daily chapel break, which lasts from 11:15 a.m. to 11:35 a.m. CDT, the school's website said. The time passed without incident.

Schwehn would not describe the specifics of the threat, which drew unusual attention because the activity was supposed to happen on the same day that bomb threats were received at campuses in Austin, Texas, and Fargo, N.D.

"The threat to Valparaiso was substantially different from the situation reported at other schools nationally," Schwehn said. "Valparaiso did not receive a bomb threat and investigators have no reason to believe that Valparaiso was connected to the incidents at Texas and North Dakota State University."

Investigators have no suspects in the Valparaiso case, Schwehn said.

Indiana Homeland Security spokesman John Erickson said he didn't know whether any other Indiana schools had issued similar alerts.

Chris Likeness, 21, a senior from Wheaton, Ill., said in a phone interview that the Valparaiso campus seemed "a little tense" Friday afternoon.

"There are much fewer students walking around campus than usual," he said. "But otherwise, no one's too worried yet."