Wording not preserved
This message is documented at this point in the sequence, but its exact wording is not preserved in the public record. The public edition displays only confirmed alert text.
CBS Texas quoting the UT Dallas Comet Alert verbatimUT Dallas
Phoned-in bomb threat prompts campus-wide evacuation; determined to be a hoax
AI-generated · every claim is source-linkedConfirmed HoaxDetermined to be a hoax. The institutional response is documented because it reveals how the alert system performed under a perceived real threat.
On Tuesday afternoon, June 27, 2017, UT Dallas ordered a campus-wide evacuation of every building and parking garage after the university received a phoned-in bomb threat. The Comet Alert text and the university's Twitter account directed students, faculty, staff and visitors to leave all structures and remain in parking lots until further notice. The all-clear came roughly 40 minutes later, after police determined the threat was a hoax. UT Dallas Police said other campuses around the country received similar threats that day, suggesting it was part of a coordinated hoax wave.
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- Killed
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- 0
~29,000 studentsComet Alert
Documented Timeline
Alert Sequence
3 messages in sequence · 2 verified verbatim
Confirmed wording is transcribed character-for-character from a primary source. Use Verify this quote under each message to open that source in a new tab and compare the text yourself.
Some messages in this sequence are documented (their existence, timing, and channel are sourced) but their exact wording is not preserved in the public record. Those entries appear as placeholders; only confirmed text is displayed.
Verified verbatim85 chars
We received a bomb threat and are working with UTDPD to make sure the campus is safe.
Posted to the university's main Twitter account rather than a dedicated alert handle, reflecting that in 2017 most universities did not yet have a separate alert-specific social account
The plain-language phrasing ('we received a bomb threat') contrasts with the Comet Alert SMS, which never used the word 'bomb'; UT Dallas appears to have segmented bluntness to Twitter and operational urgency to SMS
The tweet served as the public confirmation of why the evacuation was happening; the SMS alone did not state a cause
Verified verbatim89 chars
UTDPD say bomb threat was a hoax. You may now enter the buildings and parking structures.
Sent approximately 40 minutes after the initial evacuation order, a relatively quick resolution
Explicitly characterized the threat as a 'hoax' in the all-clear
The brevity (89 characters) reflects how short evacuations can be when a threat is quickly determined non-credible, no search-by-building update needed
Context
Background
On the afternoon of Tuesday, June 27, 2017, UT Dallas ordered a complete evacuation of its 455-acre Richardson campus at approximately 2:40 p.m. CDT after receiving a phoned-in bomb threat. Comet Alert text messages directed everyone (faculty, staff, students, and visitors) to leave every building and parking garage and to wait in parking lots. The university's Twitter account followed within minutes, stating plainly that 'we received a bomb threat and are working with UTDPD to make sure the campus is safe.' Just 40 minutes later, at approximately 3:20 p.m. CDT, UT Dallas Police issued an all-clear characterizing the threat as a hoax. UTD Police noted that other campuses around the country received similar threats the same day, suggesting it was part of a coordinated hoax wave, a pattern that would become endemic at US universities over the following years. The June 2017 evacuation occurred during the summer session, when campus population was at its lowest, which contributed to the speed of the clearance. No arrest was publicly announced.
Analysis
Key Findings
UT Dallas's 40-minute resolution was relatively quick for a campus of its size, reflecting the value of a low-population summer session and a phoned-in threat with no specified target building
The split-channel strategy (terse evacuation SMS, plain-language Twitter explanation) is an early example of channel segmentation that became standard practice at US universities by the early 2020s
The all-clear SMS explicitly characterized the threat as a 'hoax' rather than using softer language such as 'no credible threat found'
Outcome
All-clear issued at approximately 3:20 p.m. CDT, about 40 minutes after the evacuation order. Police said the bomb threat was a hoax and was part of a series of similar threats made to colleges around the country that day. No arrest was publicly announced. Summer-session classes resumed the following day.
Provenance
Sources
Every claim on this page is meant to be checkable. Open the links below (and the Verify this quote control under each confirmed alert) to read the original university, news, or archive page yourself. Hostnames are shown so you can see where you are going; archived copies survive when live pages move or disappear. See also our methodology.
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Cite this case
Campus Alert Archive. "The University of Texas at Dallas: Phoned-in bomb threat prompts campus-wide evacuation; determined to be a hoax." Incident of June 27, 2017. Added May 2026; last updated July 2026. https://campusalertarchive.com/case/ut-dallas-bomb-threat-hoax-2017-06-27/
Alert text quoted on this page remains the work of the issuing institution; the archive is a secondary source.
Tags
bomb-threathoaxtexasevacuationrichardsonut-systemsummer-session2017fast-resolutionHoax
Added May 2026Updated July 2026Via ingestion