Wording not preserved
A initial alert message is documented at this point in the sequence, but its exact wording is not preserved in the public record. The public edition displays only confirmed alert text.
Barnard
Bomb threat during a library sit-in forced an evacuation; nine protesters arrested
AI-generated · every claim is source-linkedUnfoundedNo evidence of an actual threat was found. The institutional response is documented because the alert communication is identical to what would occur during a real incident.
On March 5, 2025, approximately 50 students began a sit-in at Barnard's Milstein Center 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. Nine protesters who refused to leave were arrested by NYPD. The bomb threat was determined to be unfounded.
- Alerts
- 4
- Response
- —
- Killed
- 0
- Injured
- 0
~2,700 studentsBarnard CARES
Documented Timeline
Alert Sequence
4 messages in sequence · 1 verified verbatim
Some messages in this sequence are documented (their existence, timing, and channel are sourced) but their exact wording is not preserved in the public record. Those entries appear as placeholders; only confirmed text is displayed.
Wording not preserved
A update message is documented at this point in the sequence, but its exact wording is not preserved in the public record. The public edition displays only confirmed alert text.
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.
Verbatim NYPD social-media post quoted in ABC News and Good Morning America coverage
Posted at approximately 4:52 PM EST as NYPD officers entered the Barnard main gate at 117th Street and Broadway
The 'subject to arrest' phrasing functioned as a warning that immediately preceded the actual arrests
Wording not preserved
A all clear message is documented at this point in the sequence, but its exact wording is not preserved in the public record. The public edition displays only confirmed alert text.
Context
Background
On the afternoon of March 5, 2025, approximately 50 pro-Palestine demonstrators 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 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, 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, 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 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 by evening. Subsequent reporting by The Intercept 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 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.'
Analysis
Key Findings
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
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.
Provenance
Sources
- Student Paper
- Student Paper
- national media
- News
- Student Paper
- national media
- national media
- national media
Cite this case
Campus Alert Archive. "Barnard College: Bomb threat during a library sit-in forced an evacuation; nine protesters arrested." Incident of March 5, 2025. Added May 2026; last updated July 2026. https://campusalertarchive.com/case/barnard-college-milstein-library-bomb-threat-2025-03-05/
Alert text quoted on this page remains the work of the issuing institution; the archive is a secondary source.
Tags
bomb-threatunfoundedcivil-disturbanceshelter-in-placegaza-protestwomens-collegeprivate-liberal-artsnew-yorknypdswatting-suspectedmilstein-centerUnfounded
Added May 2026Updated July 2026Via ingestion