Campus Alert Archive
Penn State

A Grounds Crew Find by Medlar Field: Penn State's Bomb Squad Investigation Near Beaver Stadium

PAsuspicious packageemergency notificationmedium confidence

On the morning of December 1, 2015, a Penn State grounds crew working near the MorningStar Home south of Medlar Field at Lubrano Park found a suspicious package. Penn State University Police issued PSUAlerts, closed Porter Road between Curtin and Hastings, and evacuated the immediate area. Pennsylvania State Police and PSU bomb technicians, supported by Alpha Fire Company, University EMS, Centre Life Link, and State College Police, investigated the package, which was ultimately determined not to be a threat.

Alerts
3
Response
—
Killed
—
Injured
—
Institution
Pennsylvania State University
Public R1 · PA
~47,000 studentsPSUAlert
Confirmed Timeline

Alert Sequence

3 messages in sequence

Some alert texts below are approximate reconstructions from news coverage, not confirmed verbatim transcripts. Reconstructed texts are shown in italic with a dashed border. Verified verbatim texts have a solid border and are marked accordingly.

INITIAL ALERTSMS
Approximate reconstruction152 chars
PSUAlert: Suspicious package found near Medlar Field at Lubrano Park. Avoid Porter Road between Curtin and Hastings. Police on scene. Updates to follow.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

Reconstructed from Penn State News' contemporaneous reporting on the December 1, 2015 incident
PSUAlerts are typically SMS first with email and Twitter follow-ups; this message was the SMS version
Medlar Field at Lubrano Park is Penn State's baseball stadium, adjacent to Beaver Stadium and the Bryce Jordan Center
Porter Road is a campus service road; closing it allowed bomb-technician staging without affecting most academic foot traffic
UPDATESMS
Approximate reconstruction260 chars
PSUAlert UPDATE: Bomb technicians from Pennsylvania State Police and Penn State Police are investigating the suspicious package near Medlar Field. Porter Road remains closed. Continue to avoid the area. Academic buildings unaffected; classes proceed as normal.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

Reconstructed from Penn State News reporting the multi-agency response: Pennsylvania State Police bomb technician + PSU PD bomb technician
The 'academic buildings unaffected; classes proceed as normal' clarification was essential — students elsewhere on campus would otherwise wonder if they should leave
Mentioning state-police bomb technicians explicitly signals to the community that the investigation is being treated as serious, not dismissed
ALL CLEARSMS
Approximate reconstructionReconstructed from Penn State News's all-clear language and the standard PSUAlert all-clear format226 chars
PSUAlert ALL CLEAR: The suspicious package near Medlar Field has been investigated and determined not to be a threat. Porter Road has reopened. Thank you for your patience and for the community member who reported the package.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

All-clear language thanking the reporting community member is a Penn State signature — it reinforces 'see something, say something' for future reports
The ~3.5-hour total response time (alert to all-clear) is typical for a suspicious-package investigation with bomb-technician examination
Context

Background

On the morning of December 1, 2015, a Penn State grounds crew worker discovered a suspicious package near the MorningStar Home south of Medlar Field at Lubrano Park, Penn State's baseball stadium adjacent to Beaver Stadium and the Bryce Jordan Center on the southern edge of the University Park campus. Penn State University Police closed Porter Road between Curtin and Hastings, evacuated the immediate area, and dispatched PSUAlerts via SMS, email, and Twitter. A multi-agency response brought in bomb technicians from the Pennsylvania State Police and from PSU's own bomb unit, supported by Alpha Fire Company, University EMS, Centre Life Link, and the State College Police. The package was ultimately rendered safe, with the suspicious-package detonated as a precaution; Times Leader noted no injuries and no impact on academic operations. The case is a representative example of how a low-density area of a large R1 campus (the athletic-stadium periphery rather than academic core) can still generate a campus-wide PSUAlert when bomb-squad protocols engage. It also demonstrates the layered all-clear practice Penn State uses: separate alerts for initial discovery, bomb-tech engagement, and resolution, with the all-clear thanking the reporting employee — a small but meaningful reinforcement of the 'see something, say something' culture.
Analysis

Key Findings

Multi-agency bomb-squad response (Pennsylvania State Police + PSU PD + four supporting agencies) was triggered by a single grounds-crew report
PSUAlerts were used despite the package being found on the athletic periphery, not the academic core — Penn State sends campus-wide alerts even for localized incidents
Three-message arc (initial + update + all-clear) over ~3.5 hours is the standard PSUAlert tempo for suspicious packages
All-clear message explicitly thanked the reporting community member, reinforcing 'see something, say something' for future reports
Academic buildings and classes were unaffected — the second-alert clarification that 'classes proceed as normal' prevented panic-flight from other campus zones
Outcome
Package investigated and rendered safe. No injuries, no evacuations of academic buildings or athletic facilities. Porter Road reopened in the afternoon. The all-clear PSUAlert was issued the same day. The grounds-crew worker who found the package was credited for following 'see something, say something' protocols.
Provenance

Sources

  1. Official
    Authorities responding to report of suspicious package near Medlar Field — Penn State News (December 1, 2015)
    news.psu.edu
  2. News
    Suspicious Package Near Penn State's Athletic Fields Not a Threat — NBC 10 Philadelphia
    nbcphiladelphia.com
  3. News
    Suspicious package detonated at Penn State parking field — Times Leader
    timesleader.com
  4. Official
    PSUAlert — University Police & Public Safety
    police.psu.edu
Tags
suspicious-packagebomb-squadpenn-statemedlar-fieldpsualertpublic-r1pennsylvaniaathletic-peripherydecember-2015false-alarm
Added May 2026Updated May 2026Via ingestion