Increased security after threat against LiU

The security manager at Linköpings University has been in contact with the police throughout Wednesday evening, and the police have decided that there are no reasons to close the university.

It was late on Wednesday afternoon that a threat was directed against LiU in an chat room. The threat was similar to threats made against, among other institutions, Örebro University.

“The situation is serious, and we have complete understanding for students and co-workers who choose to stay at home on Thursday”, says University Director Kent Waltersson.

Update

We have received many questions from students and co-workers after the threat against Linköping University on Wednesday. The answers to some of these are given below.

Question: How can students who have chosen to remain at home on Thursday catch up on the teaching they miss?
Answer: Students must discuss questions of this type with the programme coordinator or course coordinator to find a solution. 

Question: Where are the university’s security personnel and the police?
Answer: The security personnel and/or the police are present on Campus Valla, Campus Norrköping and the University Hospital Campus during Thursday.

Question: Is there anything to fear?
Answer: No, there is no need to feel frightened. The police have concluded that there is no need to close the university. As a university, however, we respect that anxiety may be aroused by this type of situation and we have therefore chosen to have security personnel and police on our campuses. 

Question: Should co-workers who decide to remain at home on Thursday take this as a day of holiday? What are the rules about this?
Answer: We have made the decision to maintain university operations as usual. If there are individual reasons to remain at home on Thursday, the co-worker is to discuss with his or her immediate superior about how to treat the situation.

Question: Should teachers lock the door when lecturing?
Answer: Operations are to continue as usual, and the police have concluded that there is no reason to close the university. It is, then, a matter for each individual teacher to decide whether such an action would reduce any anxiety that students are experiencing. 

Question: Why has the university stated that it is open as usual when some divisions are completely closed?
Answer: Certain operational units may have chosen to remain closed for various reasons. We emphasise once again, however, that the overall assessment is that all operations can continue as usual. 

Question: How often is this type of threat made against Linköping University?
Answer: It happens, but it’s not very common. We experienced a similar threat a few years ago, and decided also on that occasion to continue operation as usual.

Question: Does the university have a crisis management plan?
Answer: The university has a central crisis management group that is activated to manage events that affect the complete university. Each operational unit also has a local crisis management plan. 

Translation: George Farrants