Update 4/17: Cornell University Police Department (CUPD) Chief Kathy Zoner provided some information regarding the incident:
According to Zoner, the explosive device was a round object no longer than 3 inches. The device was stable, meaning it would only explode if purposely set off, and Zoner said its blast radius would be less than ten feet. Zoner admitted that the unnamed staff member’s decision to bring the device to campus was “dumb” but reiterated that the staff member had no malicious intent. The off-campus location where the device was found is confidential, Zoner said, as the investigation into the matter is on-going. She also said the reason why university officials did not directly notify students is because the event was not criminal (in which case they would have to notify students) and because the university did not want to alarm students or cause an overreaction on an already particularly fraught day. Earlier that same day, a massive fire burned down an apartment building near campus, displacing forty students and causing traffic problems. Zoner said the fire was more pressing of an issue.
On Tuesday afternoon a bomb squad removed a “small, improvised explosive device” from Bartels Hall on Cornell’s campus. A University press release stated there was no “immediate danger.”
Two days later, the University has yet to directly notify students.
According to a Cornell statement, a staff member brought the device to Bartels Hall after finding it at a “remote location off campus.” The staff member is not under investigation, according to a police report.
“[T]here is no indication there was malicious intent by the subject that brought the device to campus and no charges have been filed,” the report reads.
The matter is currently under investigation by the Endicott Bomb Squad, the Cornell University Police Department, and the FBI.
