A bomb scare on Monday forced Harvard University to evacuate four buildings, call in police and cancel final exams under way at the elite US University in the north-eastern town of Cambridge.
An alert on its website announced the evacuations at the Science Centre, the Thayer dormitory, the Sever classroom and lecture hall and the Emerson building, home to the philosophy department.
“Please evacuate those buildings now,” it said.
“Out of an abundance of caution, the buildings have been evacuated while the report is investigated. Harvard’s focus is on the safety of our students, faculty and staff,” it added.
Police immediately scrambled to the affected buildings.
But an hour and a half after the original alert, the report remained unconfirmed and police have “no reason to believe there is a threat to any other side on campus”, the university said.
Harvard also tweeted that there had been “NO reports of explosions”.
Harvard, one of the most prestigious universities in the world, dominates the Massachusetts town of Cambridge near Boston.
Harvard’s Science Centre is home to the mathematics, statistics and history of science departments. The university is currently in session, going into recess on 21 December.
