The safety of our students, faculty and staff is our highest priority. It is with that priority in mind that we provide the following information about an unconfirmed threat made against university doctors this week.
Unfortunately, threats against businesses, governments and universities are part of the modern world. The university, along with the George Washington Police Department (GWPD), gathers information and investigates all threats to determine if a threat is credible and could bring harm to any of our students, faculty, staff or campuses. If so, we alert our community.
Before taking any action, we try to confirm the facts. Information can be inconsistent, contradictory and preliminary. In this case, as soon as we received the initial report of a threat, we immediately attempted to determine whether an emergency or dangerous situation was unfolding on our campus.
We learned that an employee of the GW Medical Faculty Associates (MFA) had contacted GWPD about a non-specific threat to an off-campus location regarding unnamed doctors. MPD was notified immediately. GWPD officers continued to gather information and determined that no situation involving an immediate threat to our Foggy Bottom campus existed. If there had been such an emergency or threat, we would have relied not only on our own notification system, but all communication avenues available to us, including student media, to get the facts out immediately to our community.
Threats to the university community are taken seriously and investigated thoroughly. If there is a serious or ongoing threat, I can assure you an alert will be issued. We understand the importance of the Clery Act and comply with its requirements. But Clery Act or not, we notify our community of any real threat or danger as quickly as possible.