Southern Oregon University at Ashland
Southern Oregon University is closed after a threat was found Tuesday.
(Terry Richard/The Oregonian/OregonLive)
Administrators decided to cancel all classes at Southern Oregon University on Wednesday after a note found on campus referenced last week's mass shootings at Umpqua Community College, according to an Ashland Police Department spokesman.
Warren Hensman, Ashland deputy police chief, confirmed Wednesday morning that the threatening note was found Tuesday in a university bathroom. School officials were especially concerned by the connection to the shootings that killed 10 and injured nine more Thursday on the Umpqua campus in Roseburg, about 100 miles from Ashland, Hensman said.
"Without going into the verbiage on the note, that's also what helped elevate our concern," Hensman said. "It obviously raised significant concern with the university, who made a determination to close the school."
A rash of school closures has followed Thursday's mass shooting, which ended when the gunman committed suicide after exchanging gunfire with police detectives. Law enforcement authorities say that hoaxes and potential threats often increase after mass killings of the type that occurred on the Umpqua campus.
"When people know that institutions are going to be sensitive after an event like that, they see an opportunity to have an instant impact," said Kelly McIver, University of Oregon Police Department communications director. "Unfortunately it's not entirely uncommon for people to do hoaxes just to disrupt things."
Kim Richmond, director of the National Center for Campus Public Safety, in Burlington, Vermont, said that copycats and threats emerge after each mass shooting.
"Most of the time the perpetrators of those crimes are not healthy from a mental perspective, so they glorify the people who commit those crimes, so it increases their interest in either wanting to do it themselves or seeing the panic it creates," said Richmond, a former University of Central Missouri police chief.
Elementary schools, high schools and colleges have been on high alert since the attack, which continues to receive international attention as President Barack Obama prepares to visit Roseburg on Friday.
Rogue Community College canceled classes at its three Southern Oregon campuses Monday after a bomb threat and a report of three armed people on the school's Grants Pass campus. On Friday, Forest Grove High School locked down for a half hour after students reported something resembling a weapon sticking out of another student's waistband. The report turned out to be false.
Another brief lockdown occurred at Clatskanie Middle/High School, and Southwestern Oregon Community College closed Friday after the threat of a shooting.
Southern Oregon's closure Wednesday affected only its main Ashland campus. Ashland detectives are investigating, and will forward evidence to the Oregon State Police crime lab, Hensman said.
Hensman said officers aren't certain when the threatening note was left on campus. He noted that Ashland's crime rate is relatively low.
Hensman said Wednesday morning that it was too early to tell whether Southern Oregon would reopen Thursday.
-- Richard Read
rread@oregonian.com, 503-294-5135
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