Threatening graffiti close schools in Chicago

CHICAGO - A message scrawled in a university bathroom — "Be prepared to die on 4/14" — left not just the college's campus empty Monday, but also those of two adjoining high schools and a pair of nearby elementary schools.

After the precautions were taken at St. Xavier University on the city's southwest side, Malcolm X College evacuated students and canceled daytime classes Monday after a similar threat was found in a bathroom at the campus west of downtown. And Michigan's Oakland University was closed Monday because of threatening graffiti mentioning April 14.

The closures, two days before the anniversary of the Virginia Tech killings and two months after the deadly rampage at Northern Illinois University, illustrate the challenge such threats pose to school administrators, who have to decide just how seriously to take them.

"I can see why they're doing it for the safety of the kids. But I see it as over the top," said Lynn Ruggiero, whose daughter is a freshman at one of the high schools that shares a campus with Xavier and closed Monday.

 

In the Chicago area, two elementary schools and two high schools near St. Xavier decided to cancel classes Monday after a Saturday morning meeting between school officials and city police.

The fact that the threat mentioned a certain date helped administrators at Evergreen Park Southwest Elementary decide to shut down, district superintendent Craig Fiegel said. Other schools in the district — located in the village of Evergreen Park, next to Chicago — canceled outdoor recess and PE classes Monday.