A bomb threat has led Mississippi Valley State University to cancel classes Thursday night and all day Friday.
Classes will be held as scheduled during the day Thursday, but extra security measures will be in place.
Maxine Greenleaf, director of communications at Valley, said students should expect longer-than-normal lines to enter campus, as security will search each vehicle.
Greenleaf added that everyone entering campus or a university building will be required to show identification. Anyone without an ID will be turned back.
Greenleaf said the threat specified Friday, Saturday and Monday as possible days of attack. Classes are scheduled to resume on Tuesday, following Monday’s Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.
According to a university press release, the threat named both the school’s Itta Bena campus and the Leflore County Civic Center.
“We’re following our emergency plan,” said Greenleaf.
Authorities this evening were sweeping all campus buildings as well as the civic center.
Valley’s men’s and women’s basketball teams are scheduled to take on Alcorn State University this weekend at the civic center. Those games have not been cancelled, but bags will not be allowed and additional security measures will be in place there as well.
“The University is taking all precautions to secure the MVSU campus and working in conjunction with the Greenwood-Leflore Emergency Management Agency and local, state and federal law enforcement to ensure that the Leflore County Civic Center is safe for our upcoming games,” the university said in a press release.
For more coverage, see Thursday’s Commonwealth.
• Contact Bryn Stole at 581-7235 or bstole@gwcommonwealth.com.
