News of a bomb threat caused the widespread evacuation of Louisiana State University's campus in Baton Rouge, La., on Monday afternoon, The New York Times reported. The event marked the fourth evacuation resulting from a bomb threat at a college campus in four days and followed similar incidents at Hiram College, North Dakota State University and the University of Texas at Austin. The LSU evacuation occurred after 911 responders for East Baton Rouge parish received a threat at 10:32 a.m., and the campus was evacuated within an hour. The university has 29,000 enrolled students, although it is unclear how many were present at the time of evacuation. An FBI spokesperson said that the bureau is currently investigating whether the four bomb threats are related, according to The Times.
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill chancellor Holden Thorp announced Monday that he will step down in June, making Thorp the latest in a string of administrators at large public universities to resign, according to Inside Higher Education. After beginning his career at UNC, Thorp rose from professor to dean of UNC's College of Arts and Sciences within five years. He cut costs and increased the university's academic profile but was caught in a series of scandals that led to his resignation. The NCAA sanctioned the football team after finding that players received impermissible benefits, and local media uncovered questionable activity in an academic department whose professors altered grades. Furthermore, the university's chief fundraiser attempted to secure a university job for his girlfriend, according to Inside Higher Ed.
Three undergraduate departments, one undergraduate study program and three graduate programs at Emory University have been marked for closure, prompting negative reactions from professors and forcing the administration to defend its decision, The Chronicle of Higher Education reported. The undergraduate journalism program will close along with the education, visual arts and health and physical education departments. Emory will also suspend graduate applications for its economics, Spanish and Institute of Liberal Arts programs, according to The Chronicle. University officials have said that they acted in Emory's best interests by separating the departments that have been useful in the past from those seen as essential to its future. Professors felt that the decision was sudden, despite the fact that the review process lasted four years, according to The Chronicle.
