BY HANNAH PURKEY

In print | Published April 17, 2008

On Tuesday morning, an unidentified individual threatened violence against Swarthmore students on the Daily Jolt, an online forum, according to Dean of Students Jim Larimore. A student who saw the post informed the Department of Public Safety, which then informed the Swarthmore borough police and campus administrators.

“We take all threats seriously, and this one was no exception,” Larimore said in an e-mail. “Because the possibility of harm exists, we do not feel that we can make the assumption that a threat is not serious.”

The Swarthmore police responded to a 911 call that was placed, and in conjunction with Public Safety, began investigating the validity of the threat. The Cambridge, Ma. – based company that runs the Daily Jolt cooperated with the police investigation.

“The College contacted the Daily Jolt and informed them about the message that had been posted and our concerns,” Larimore said. “They shared information with us that enabled ITS to determine the registered user of the computer from which the message had been sent.”

The Swarthmore police then stepped in to assess whether the student was a threat. “Once we were able to identify the student involved, we confronted him and determined that there was no immediate threat,” said Swarthmore Borough Police Chief Brian Craig, who was one of the officers responding to the call. “When I left, the student was under control and was being addressed.”

The threatening post has since been removed from the Daily Jolt’s Web site, and the student who posted it is under review in an investigation that will take at least two weeks, according to Craig.

The details of the threat and the consequences will not be released until the investigation is complete. “I’m not at liberty to discuss the sanctions that might apply to a particular individual due to college privacy policies and federal law,” Larimore said. “I can say, however, that a student found responsible for misconduct faces sanctions that range from warning or probation to suspension or even expulsion.”

Students were informed of the threat through an e-mail Larimore sent Tuesday afternoon, which explained the threat and the level of seriousness with which the college was addressing it.

Some students who read the posting before it was removed didn’t agree with the administration regarding the gravity of the threat. “There was a lot of freshman bashing going on in the post, and [the threat] just seemed like that except a little more exaggerated,” said Rachel Bell ‘10, who read part of the post. "It seems like the administration’s reaction was a little extreme."

Once the administration was informed of the threat, however, Larimore said it had to respond. “The college administration does not monitor the Daily Jolt, so we become aware of material posted on the Daily Jolt only when students or others bring it to our attention,” Larimore said. “We do take threats seriously, so when they are reported we do follow up the best of our ability and if warranted that includes informing the local police of our concerns.”

This was the first threat of this sort at Swarthmore, according to Craig, but it was handled well. “The college was a big help as was the people at the Daily Jolt Web site,” Craig said. “The threat is now under control.”

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