Robert Morris University said it evacuated Nicholson Center and Patrick Henry Center in Moon Township on Thursday evening after a threat involving the buildings. An emergency alert directed people outside the affected area to stay away while police investigated.
The buildings serve different campus functions: Nicholson Center is the student center, while Patrick Henry Center houses the library. WTAE reported that the threat involved both buildings and that the university evacuated Nicholson Center as a precaution.
RMU said it became aware of a threat posted on social media involving Nicholson Center. WTAE’s report did not identify the platform or account. RMU police were investigating, and university police and Allegheny County police were coordinating a security assessment of the buildings, the station reported.
Emergency Alert Told People to Stay Away
The alert directed people outside the affected area to stay away. RMU also told campus community members to follow university emergency alerts and instructions from public-safety personnel, according to WTAE.
The university said student and employee safety and well-being are its highest priority. RMU’s public-safety page describes campus tools including emergency alerts, direct calls to campus police and alarms monitored around the clock.
Part of a Broader Pattern on College Campuses
Bomb threats targeting college buildings, particularly libraries and student centers, have become a recurring headache for campus police departments nationally. Towson University evacuated its student union after a bomb threat on Sept. 30, 2025, with Towson University Police and the Baltimore County Police Department sweeping the building before it reopened before 1 p.m., according to Towson University. Morgan State University received a separate threat that same morning targeting its campus library; officers inspected each floor before officials ruled the threat not credible, as reported by WBAL-TV.
A wider wave hit Virginia colleges on March 13, 2026, when at least five schools investigated bomb threats at their libraries while a sixth warned people away from its library over an active threat, as noted by VPM News. Evacuations occurred that day at the University of Virginia, Bridgewater College, George Mason University, Randolph-Macon College, Longwood University and Shenandoah University. At the University of Virginia, officials said an emailed threat that forced evacuations of the Shannon and Clemons libraries was ultimately determined to be a hoax possibly linked to the string of similar threats sent to other Virginia schools that day. The same report notes that unspecified bomb threats were sent to six historically Black colleges and universities back in 2022, underscoring how these incidents have recurred across the country well before Thursday's events in Moon Township.
What national threat figures show
The available national figure does not establish how common bomb threats are at U.S. colleges or whether their frequency has changed. The FBI said that since January 2022, more than 50 HBCUs, houses of worship and other faith-based and academic institutions nationwide had received racially motivated threats of violence; that figure is not specific to bomb threats.
