Campuses unnerved by anonymous threat

Susan Snyder, Katherine Blum, Matthew Nussbaum, Aubrey Whelan and David Klein, Inquirer Staff Writers

Last updated: Monday, October 5, 2015, 2:53 PM
Posted: Monday, October 5, 2015, 12:02 PM

Philadelphia area colleges and universities stepped up security Monday while students wrestled with whether to go to classes in the face of an unnerving anonymous mass shooting threat.

Many still went to class while many others did not after learning that a "university near Philadelphia" would be the target of an attack.

The threat was posted on Friday, the day after Sean Harper-Mercer, 26, killed eight students and their professor in a classroom at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Ore.

The warning on the 4chan site said the attack would take place at 1 p.m. Central Time, which was 2 p.m. in Philadelphia. Philadelphia, Miss., is in Central Time but there was no indication any precautions were taken at schools near to that city.

Students cited a number of reasons for going to class: a fear of losing grade points for being absent or not giving into fear, among them.

Some professors saved students the trouble of making a choice by canceling their classes.

And for those classes that did take place, students reported lower than usual attendance, even before the 2 p.m. time mentioned in the threat.

"I don't think that canceling classes is the right idea," said Brendan Coppinger, a Drexel University sophomore from Connecticut. "It gives way too much attention to the people who just post random crap like this online. I don't expect anything to happen here."

"I'm concerned but on the other hand, I think there's a really good chance it's just some 'edge lord' trying to scare people," Zach Fetah, 19, of Chesterfield, N.J., said, as he strolled through Drexel's brick plaza outside the administration building. The sophomore computer science major said he planned to attend his Russian class at 2 p.m.

Jessica Barnes, 19, a Drexel sophomore from Scranton, said she would attend her material science class at 2 p.m. Her faith would help her through, she said.

"I'm a little nervous, but it's nothing that God can't handle," said the chemical engineering major. "I believe that God will keep us safe."

At Drexel, students had to show ID to get into academic buildings.

The schools all sent messages to students and staff advising them of the threat and assuring them that security was on heightened alert.

The fear seemed particularly evident - or, at least, on more public display - at the University of Pennsylvania, where nearly three-quarters of the students responding to an unscientific online poll by the Daily Pennsylvanian said they were afraid to go to classes.

In addition, a Facebook page called "Not Going to Class" went up, saying: "Not going to class because it is OK to be worried, it is OK to be afraid, and it is OK to value your life and take measures to stay safe after a threat has been made against it. Stay safe everyone, regardless of whether or not you go to class."


"I'm staying home because it's better to be safe than sorry but I feel better knowing the University is taking every precaution they can and that the entire community is taking this seriously," said Scott Rubenstein, a Penn freshman from Arizona.

At Villanova University, Claire Lavelle, a sophomore from Georgia, described the mood as "a mixture of outrage and slight fear."

"We're sick over this," she said.

Elliot Slade, 20 a student from Britain, called the scene "surreal."

"There's been a lot of hysteria and panic," he said. "The fact that this is a problem is ridiculous. The fact that it could happen is even scarier." But, he said, he was still going to class.

An Inquirer reporter who was interviewing students at the Villanova was issued a warning for trespassing by school security and Radnor police and threatened with arrest if he returned to campus.

At Drexel, one professor, Marilyn Musket, who said a vast majority of her Soc 1 class showed up, worked the topic of the threat into her lecture. The subject: What is a fact and the statistics of probability.

Federal authorities alerted the schools to the threat posted on 4chan, a sprawling, loosely organized collection of message boards that's known for hosting some of the Internet's most offensive content, and some of its most infamous trolls. It's the birthplace of the harmless LOLcats meme, but it's also where the hacker collective Anonymous got its start. It's where last year's massive leak of celebrity nudes was first posted, where users once teamed up to harass the family of a teenage suicide victim, and where posters rail anonymously against "normies" - in other words, anyone who's not on 4chan.

Days after the Oregon shooting, several news outlets reported that federal authorities were investigating a post on 4chan's /r9k/ message board that had seemingly predicted the shooting.

"Some of you guys are alright. Don't go to school tomorrow if you are in the northwest," the post, written Sept. 30, read.

On Friday, another post on /r9k/ warned of the attack at a Philadelphia-area college.

"The Beta Rebellion has begun," the anonymous poster wrote.

"A fellow robot will take up arms against a university near Philadelphia." The poster, for some reason, said the attack would occur at 1 p.m. Central Time.

Such language - although, usually, not nearly so violent - is commonplace on /r9k/. In a twist, the board was first conceived as an antidote to some of the worst sections of 4chan, employing an automated moderation system to deter trolls.

In its current incarnation, it is a haven for users who refer to themselves as "betas" - passive, sexually frustrated young men - and share stories of awkward social encounters and dating woes, frequently in misogynistic tones. In the thread where the original threat was posted on Friday, some users seemed to encourage the poster, writing "DO IT" and "the uprising shall commence!" Others told the poster to prepare for scrutiny from law enforcement.

"Try not to cry when the police interrogate you for this thread," one wrote.

Source : http://www.philly.com/philly/news/breaking/20151006_Campuses_unnerved_by_anonymous_threat.html

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