{
  "id": "2025-03-05-barnard-college-milstein-library-bomb-threat",
  "slug": "barnard-college-milstein-library-bomb-threat-2025-03-05",
  "institution": {
    "name": "Barnard College",
    "shortName": "Barnard",
    "state": "NY",
    "type": "private-liberal-arts",
    "alertSystemName": "Barnard CARES",
    "enrollment": 2700
  },
  "incident": {
    "date": "2025-03-05",
    "type": "bomb-threat",
    "cleryCategory": "emergency-notification",
    "resolution": "unfounded",
    "headline": "Bomb threat during a library sit-in forced an evacuation; nine protesters arrested",
    "headlinePublic": "Bomb threat during a library sit-in forced an evacuation; nine protesters arrested",
    "summary": "On March 5, 2025, approximately 50 students [began a sit-in at Barnard's Milstein Center](https://www.columbiaspectator.com/news/2025/03/05/barnard-administrators-announce-bomb-threat-in-milstein-order-shelter-in-place/) around 1:00 PM EST to protest the expulsion of three Columbia/Barnard students. At 4:15 PM EST, Barnard Vice President Robin Levine announced a bomb threat targeting Milstein and ordered the building evacuated. Barnard CARES then issued a shelter-in-place alert at [4:43 PM EST](https://www.westsiderag.com/2025/03/06/bomb-threat-on-barnard-campus-ends-sit-in-as-police-make-9-arrests). Nine protesters who refused to leave were arrested by NYPD. The bomb threat was determined to be unfounded.",
    "outcome": "Nine protesters were arrested by NYPD for refusing to evacuate the Milstein Center. The bomb threat was determined to be unfounded by police later that evening. Reporting later established the bomb threat was likely targeting the protesters themselves rather than originating from them. Barnard subsequently restricted campus access to ID holders, banned masks in the library, and announced possible bag checks.",
    "casualties": {
      "killed": 0,
      "injured": 0
    }
  },
  "alerts": [
    {
      "sequence": 1,
      "type": "initial",
      "timestamp": "2025-03-05T16:17:00-05:00",
      "channel": "in-person",
      "verbatimText": "",
      "isVerbatimConfirmed": false,
      "sourceDescription": "Reconstructed from Bwog and Columbia Spectator coverage of the 4:17 PM EST in-person announcement by Kelli Murray, Barnard's Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer, inside Milstein",
      "annotations": []
    },
    {
      "sequence": 2,
      "type": "update",
      "timestamp": "2025-03-05T16:43:00-05:00",
      "channel": "email",
      "verbatimText": "",
      "isVerbatimConfirmed": false,
      "sourceDescription": "Reconstructed from Columbia Spectator, Bwog, and Barnard Bulletin coverage of the 4:43 PM EST Barnard CARES alert from Interim Executive Director Gary Maroni",
      "annotations": []
    },
    {
      "sequence": 3,
      "type": "follow-up",
      "timestamp": "2025-03-05T16:52:00-05:00",
      "channel": "official-social",
      "verbatimText": "The NYPD is responding to a bomb threat at the Milstein Center at Barnard College and is evacuating the building. Anyone who refuses to leave the location is subject to arrest. Please stay away from the area.",
      "isVerbatimConfirmed": true,
      "sourceUrl": "https://www.thebarnardbulletin.com/post/nypd-arrests-students-on-barnard-campus-amid-active-bomb-threat",
      "sourceDescription": "Barnard Bulletin transcribes the full NYPD X post",
      "annotations": [
        "Dual HTML + second-blind. Barnard Bulletin quotes the full NYPD post (status 1897407181009641726). Byte-identical to the committed 208-char reconstruction. sha256 cd8cd965a9e67683a512815af3abc324d01188d95c1fe68849296dca366a8f86.",
        "Prior 2026-07-20 demote was for national/TV news without a complete reproduction; this student-newspaper transcription is the complete official-social product."
      ],
      "characterCount": 208,
      "confidence": "high"
    },
    {
      "sequence": 4,
      "type": "all-clear",
      "timestampApprox": "Approximately 7:00 PM EST on March 5, 2025",
      "channel": "email",
      "verbatimText": "",
      "isVerbatimConfirmed": false,
      "sourceDescription": "Reconstructed from Columbia Spectator, West Side Rag, and Washington Post end-of-evening coverage; NYPD confirmed the threat was unfounded around 7:00 PM EST",
      "annotations": []
    }
  ],
  "context": "On the afternoon of March 5, 2025, approximately [50 pro-Palestine demonstrators](https://www.columbiaspectator.com/news/2025/03/05/barnard-administrators-announce-bomb-threat-in-milstein-order-shelter-in-place/) filed into Barnard's Milstein Center through a side door at 1:00 PM EST, beginning a sit-in to protest the expulsion of three Columbia/Barnard students disciplined for participation in [the April 2024 Hamilton Hall occupation](https://www.columbiaspectator.com/news/2024/04/30/nypd-sweeps-occupied-hamilton-hall-arrests-dozens/) and a separate incident involving antisemitic flyers. At 4:17 PM EST (more than three hours after the sit-in began) [Kelli Murray, Barnard's Executive Vice President](https://bwog.com/2025/03/pro-palestine-student-demonstrators-hold-sit-in-in-barnards-milstein-center-nine-individuals-arrested/), made an in-person announcement inside Milstein that the college had received a bomb threat and was evacuating the building. At [4:43 PM EST](https://www.westsiderag.com/2025/03/06/bomb-threat-on-barnard-campus-ends-sit-in-as-police-make-9-arrests), Interim Executive Director of CARES Gary Maroni issued a campus-wide shelter-in-place alert via the Barnard CARES Response Team email system. At 4:52 PM EST, [NYPD officers entered the campus](https://www.thebarnardbulletin.com/post/nypd-arrests-students-on-barnard-campus-amid-active-bomb-threat) through the 117th Street main gate. Approximately 50 officers, including Strategic Response Group members, cleared the building. Nine protesters who refused to evacuate were arrested. NYPD confirmed the bomb threat was [not credible](https://abcnews.go.com/US/nypd-responds-bomb-threat-barnard-college/story?id=119489730) by evening. Subsequent reporting by [The Intercept](https://theintercept.com/2025/04/24/barnard-college-gaza-protests-bomb-threat/) established that the bomb threat appears to have been called in by someone targeting the protesters rather than by the protesters themselves. Barnard President Laura Rosenbury [subsequently restricted campus access](https://forward.com/fast-forward/701974/barnard-clamps-down-after-bomb-threat-clears-pro-palestinian-protest-in-library/) to ID holders, banned masks in the library, and announced possible bag checks. The Barnard Student Government Association issued an open letter protesting that the College had been 'explicitly told by President Rosenbury, in the presence of other senior staff, that the College would never invite the NYPD onto campus.'",
  "keyFindings": [
    "First documented instance in 2024-25 of a campus bomb threat being used to clear an ongoing sit-in, collapsing two distinct alert categories (civil-disturbance advisory + bomb-threat emergency-notification) into a single afternoon",
    "Three-tier alert architecture: in-person verbal announcement at 4:17 PM EST, Barnard CARES email at 4:43 PM EST, NYPD social-media warning at 4:52 PM EST, each escalating in formality and consequence",
    "Reporting that the bomb threat targeted the protesters rather than originating from them complicates standard Clery threat-attribution frameworks and highlights the weaponization of swatting against student activists"
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "title": "Barnard administrators announce bomb threat in Milstein, order shelter in place (Columbia Spectator)",
      "url": "https://www.columbiaspectator.com/news/2025/03/05/barnard-administrators-announce-bomb-threat-in-milstein-order-shelter-in-place/",
      "type": "student-newspaper"
    },
    {
      "title": "NYPD arrests students on Barnard campus amid 'active bomb threat' (Barnard Bulletin)",
      "url": "https://www.thebarnardbulletin.com/post/nypd-arrests-students-on-barnard-campus-amid-active-bomb-threat",
      "type": "student-newspaper"
    },
    {
      "title": "'No threat to the public,' NYPD says after responding to Barnard College bomb scare (ABC News)",
      "url": "https://abcnews.go.com/US/nypd-responds-bomb-threat-barnard-college/story?id=119489730",
      "type": "national-media"
    },
    {
      "title": "Bomb Threat on Barnard Campus Ends Sit-In as Police Make 9 Arrests (West Side Rag)",
      "url": "https://www.westsiderag.com/2025/03/06/bomb-threat-on-barnard-campus-ends-sit-in-as-police-make-9-arrests",
      "type": "local-media"
    },
    {
      "title": "Pro-Palestine Student Demonstrators Hold Sit-In In Barnard's Milstein Center, Nine Individuals Arrested (Bwog)",
      "url": "https://bwog.com/2025/03/pro-palestine-student-demonstrators-hold-sit-in-in-barnards-milstein-center-nine-individuals-arrested/",
      "type": "student-newspaper"
    },
    {
      "title": "Police detain protesters after bomb threat at Barnard College (Washington Post)",
      "url": "https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2025/03/05/barnard-campus-pro-palestinian-protest-arrests/",
      "type": "national-media"
    },
    {
      "title": "A Bomb Threat Targeted Student Protesters. So Why Did They Get Blamed for It? (The Intercept)",
      "url": "https://theintercept.com/2025/04/24/barnard-college-gaza-protests-bomb-threat/",
      "type": "national-media"
    },
    {
      "title": "Barnard clamps down after bomb threat clears pro-Palestinian protest in library (Forward/JTA)",
      "url": "https://forward.com/fast-forward/701974/barnard-clamps-down-after-bomb-threat-clears-pro-palestinian-protest-in-library/",
      "type": "national-media"
    }
  ],
  "confidence": "medium",
  "tags": [
    "bomb-threat",
    "unfounded",
    "civil-disturbance",
    "shelter-in-place",
    "gaza-protest",
    "womens-college",
    "private-liberal-arts",
    "new-york",
    "nypd",
    "swatting-suspected",
    "milstein-center"
  ],
  "dateAdded": "2026-05-14",
  "lastUpdated": "2026-09-14",
  "addedBy": "ingestion"
}