Campus Alert Archive
NDSU

20,000 People Evacuated in Under 30 Minutes: NDSU Empties Its Entire Campus After Bomb Threat Tied to Nationwide Wave

NDbomb threatemergency notificationhigh confidence
Confirmed HoaxDetermined to be a hoax. The institutional response is documented because it reveals how the alert system performed under a perceived real threat.

On the morning of September 14, 2012, North Dakota State University received a phone call threatening a bomb on campus. By 9:49 a.m., an emergency alert ordered all 14,000 students and 6,000 employees to evacuate every building, including residence halls, downtown facilities, and agricultural buildings, by 10:15 a.m. The campus remained closed for over three hours before reopening at 1 p.m. The FBI investigated whether the threat was connected to a simultaneous bomb threat at the University of Texas at Austin. No bomb was found.

Alerts
2
Response
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Killed
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Injured
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Institution
North Dakota State University
Public R1 · ND
~14,000 studentsNotiFindNDSU Campus Alert
Confirmed Timeline

Alert Sequence

2 messages in sequence · 1 verified verbatim

Some alert texts below are approximate reconstructions from news coverage, not confirmed verbatim transcripts. Reconstructed texts are shown in italic with a dashed border. Verified verbatim texts have a solid border and are marked accordingly.

INITIAL ALERTSMS
Verified verbatimNDSU Official News Release169 chars
NDSU is requiring all employees and students to leave campus by 10:15 a.m. This includes residence hall students, who, if necessary, should walk to locations off campus.
Quoted verbatim from the NDSU official news release and corroborated by InForum, CBS Minnesota, HuffPost, Star Tribune, and IBTimes coverage
The 49-minute gap between the 9:00 a.m. threat call and the 9:49 a.m. alert reflects time needed for threat assessment and presidential authorization of a full evacuation
President Dean Bresciani made the final call to evacuate the entire campus, a decision covering approximately 20,000 people
The tight 10:15 a.m. deadline gave occupants only 26 minutes to clear all buildings
ALL CLEARSMS
Approximate reconstruction222 chars
NDSU Alert Update: Campus will reopen at 1:00 p.m. Classes and normal operations will resume at 2:00 p.m. The bomb threat has been investigated and no danger was found. Thank you for your cooperation during the evacuation.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

Reconstructed from NDSU official news release and InForum reporting on the reopening timeline
The staggered reopening (1 p.m. access, 2 p.m. classes) allowed orderly re-entry for 20,000 people
The campus was closed for approximately three and a half hours total
Context

Background

On the morning of September 14, 2012, someone called North Dakota State University with a bomb threat at approximately 9:00 a.m. NDSU President Dean Bresciani made the decision to evacuate the entire campus. At 9:49 a.m., the NotiFind emergency notification system pushed an alert to all registered phones ordering everyone to leave campus by 10:15 a.m. The evacuation covered the main campus in Fargo, downtown NDSU buildings, and outlying agricultural facilities. Approximately 20,000 people (14,000 students and 6,000 employees) were affected. Law enforcement conducted a full sweep of the campus and found no explosive devices. The campus reopened at 1:00 p.m. with classes resuming at 2:00 p.m. The FBI investigated the threat, particularly whether it was connected to a nearly simultaneous bomb threat at the University of Texas at Austin that same morning. Both threats came during a period of coordinated bomb hoaxes targeting American universities. The NDSU incident tested the university's NotiFind system and its ability to coordinate a mass evacuation on short notice.
Analysis

Key Findings

NDSU evacuated approximately 20,000 people in under 30 minutes, one of the largest single-campus evacuations prompted by a bomb threat in that era
The threat was part of a coordinated wave targeting multiple universities on the same day, including the University of Texas at Austin
The 49-minute gap between the threat call (9:00 a.m. CDT) and the alert (9:49 a.m. CDT) reflects the time required for threat assessment and presidential authorization of a full evacuation
The NotiFind system delivered the alert via text to registered phones, with a backup email to all students and employees via the campus listserv
Outcome
No bomb found after a full campus sweep. Campus reopened at 1 p.m. with classes resuming at 2 p.m. The FBI investigated connections to a simultaneous bomb threat at the University of Texas at Austin.
Provenance

Sources

  1. Official
    NDSU resumes operations after bomb threat (NDSU Official)
    ndsu.edu
  2. News
    Coordinated effort clears NDSU after bomb threat (InForum)
    inforum.com
  3. News
    North Dakota State University Bomb Threat: Students, Employees Told To Evacuate (HuffPost)
    huffingtonpost.com
  4. News
    University of Texas at Austin, NDSU reopen after bomb threats (NBC News)
    nbcnews.com
  5. News
    Bomb threats prompt evacuations at universities (CNN)
    cnn.com
Tags
bomb-threatnorth-dakotaevacuationfbicoordinated-threatsfargomass-evacuationnotifindHoax
Added April 2026Updated April 2026Via ingestion