Ohio State Closes Library, 3 Labs in Bomb Scare

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio State University evacuated four buildings, including the main library, Tuesday morning because of bomb threats e-mailed to the FBI. An initial search turned up nothing out of the ordinary, officials said.

FBI spokesman Michael Brooks in Cincinnati said a threat was sent to the bureau's Washington headquarters. Campus police said they were alerted at 8:19 a.m. Tuesday that the threats involved the William Oxley Thompson Memorial Library and three laboratory buildings.

"This is still in our assessment a threat, and there have been no suspicious package or devices found at this time," university Police Chief Paul Denton said at a news conference.

Authorities did not identify the source of the bomb threats at Ohio State, one of the nation's largest universities, with more than 56,000 students at its Columbus campus.

University officials did not offer information on the nature of the threats and declined to speculate on why the four buildings were targeted.

All were evacuated and closed as investigators went through them with bomb-sniffing dogs, and authorities also closed off three streets.

Students and faculty members were warned by text-message alerts and online and phone messages to stay clear of the buildings until 5 p.m. The buildings would remain closed at least until that time, with their regular classes and other activities canceled, said Vernon Baisden, the university's director public safety.

All other classes and functions on campus will continue as scheduled, Baisden said.

The Columbus Fire Department bomb squad, school security and FBI were at the scene.

Besides the library, which is along the campus green area called The Oval, buildings closed were McPherson Chemical Lab, which houses the chemistry and astronomy departments; Smith Laboratory, which houses engineering experiments and anthropology; and Scott Laboratory, a mechanical engineering building.

The bomb threats marked the second time in a less than a week that a criminal investigation disrupted activities at an Ohio college campus.

Students at Kenyon College, about 60 miles north of Columbus, were subjected to a nearly nine-hour lockdown from Thursday night into Friday morning after a truck belonging to a woman who disappeared along with her two children and a female friend was found nearby.