Thousands of students, professors and workers were being evacuated from Louisiana State University's main campus Monday following a bomb threat, school officials said.

Gridlocked traffic around the Louisiana State University campus in Baton Rogue
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Gridlocked traffic around the Louisiana State University campus in Baton Rogue (Twitter)

The evacuation was prompted by a threat phoned into 911 about 10:32 a.m., university spokeswoman Kristine Calongne said. The caller didn't direct the threat to any specific area of the campus.The university issued a statement on its website announcing the evacuation an hour later, then distributed the information through text messages, emails and social media.

"A bomb threat has been reported on the LSU campus," the statement said. "Please evacuate as calmly and quickly as possible."

There are 30,000 students, professors and university employees located on the Baton Rouge campus, but it was not clear how many were present at the time of the threat.

"Monday ... is a very big class day, so I think the majority of that group was probably on campus at the time," Calongne said.

By mid-afternoon, the LSU campus was largely deserted and roads were closed, though some people and cars were still moving about campus.

The university sent a follow-up message to students at 1:36 p.m. telling them not to return.

"LSU continues to investigate the bomb threat reported earlier today. Please stay off campus unless directed to return," the message said.

Catherine Lacoste, an 18-year-old freshman and architecture major, said she received notification of the bomb threat through the emergency text message system while working in a studio on a project. She double-checked the information and then evacuated. She didn't seem worried about the threat, however.

"I'm going to go home, take a nap and hopefully campus will be open again when I wake up," Lacoste said.

State police bomb technicians were on the scene, said Louisiana State Police Capt. Doug Cain.

Calongne said she doesn't know of any other time the entire flagship university campus was evacuated.

"I've been at LSU since 1990 -- if you count my student years -- and I don't ever recall us having an evacuation of the whole campus," she said.

Campuses in Texas, North Dakota and Ohio were evacuated Friday after receiving bomb threats, but police found no explosives.

 

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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