Campus Alert Archive

Institution

Northwestern University

NorthwesternILPrivate R1~23,000 students

Cases: 10
Alerts: 21
Verbatim: 48%
Span: 1978–2026

Official alert policy

How Northwestern says it will alert — when and how AlertNU activates, summarized, quoted, and analyzed.

Case log

Every documented incident

10 cases · 10 of 21 alert messages verbatim-confirmed

2026

infrastructure failure: 2026-04-30Second Northwestern Construction Fatality in Nine Months: Thomas Barcy Falls Four Stories at Kellogg Siteadvisory1 killedverbatim

2025

swatting: 2025-09-0513 Minutes from Call to AlertNU, 13 More to All-Clear: Northwestern's Mudd Library 'Unfounded' Shots-Fired Reportemergency notificationverbatim

2024

2023

2022

threat of violence: 2022-02-22'I Am Insane, Also I Have a Gun': The Whiteboard Threat That Closed Northwestern's Multicultural Center for Two Daysadvisoryverbatim

2018

swatting: 2018-03-14'Person With Gun on Evanston Campus': Northwestern's Two-Hour Lockdown Triggered by a Swatting Call to a Vacant Apartmentemergency notificationverbatim

1978

suspicious package: 1978-05-25The Mail Bomb That Started the Unabomber Case at Northwesternemergency notification1 injured

By incident type

What Northwestern has alerted about

Active Shooter · 2 Infrastructure · 2 Swatting · 2 Civil Unrest · 1 Public Health · 1 suspicious package · 1 threat of violence · 1

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