A spokesperson for the University of Sydney said “The University of Sydney is in regular contact with all emergency services to ensure continued safety of students and staff on all its campuses”.
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The poster said: “I finally managed to get a handgun. Australians, if you study at UNSW don’t go in tomorrow”.
THE University of NSW’s Kensington campus posted an alert on social media after it received a general security threat via the online bulletin board early on Monday morning.
Even though classes on Monday (Oct 12) were continuing as normal, students had been told that if they were to leave the campus, they would not be penalised, said the report.
The threat is non-specific, and comes from a disturbing post made by an anonymous user on 4chan.
Online threats against university campuses have surged on a global scale following the recent violence in Oregon. “We are dealing with a threat made online in relation to someone with a firearm”.
As the New York Times noted during their coverage of the Umpqua shooting, however, “these kinds of threats may not be credible in any way”, as “messages found on 4chan have a history of being false, misleading and intentionally wrong”. Police are still investigating.
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New South Wales Police Detective Superintendent Gavin Dengate said authorities and security would remain on campus throughout the day.
