Queens College appointed Vincent Sinclair as the head of the Public Safety department in President Wu’s March 2026 issue of Frankly Speaking. Sinclair is a CUNY alumni and received his bachelor’s degree from John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
On Wednesday, Mar. 25th, QC received an anonymous threat via email during the Middle States Readout. President Wu discussed the incident in a 19-minute video, mentioning the email which stated, “be ready because at 10:30 a.m there will be fireworkz.”
Upon receiving this message, Sinclair worked with the NYPD 107th precinct, and it was decided to move the Middle States gathering out of LeFrak Concert Hall. They moved to the Goldstein Theatre with a magnetometer, a type of metal detector. They received another message shortly after to evacuate Kiely Hall, and it was evacuated “just to be extra safe.” After the NYPD performed a sweep, the threat was determined to be a hoax.
Although there was action to try to ensure the safety of staff and students, no one was notified about the situation. Surrounding buildings were not evacuated, and students were allowed to enter and leave campus while classes continued for the rest of the day.
Chapter Co-Chair of The Professional Staff Congress (PSC), Erica Doran expressed in an open letter to President Wu: “This chosen course of conduct is alarming, callous, and unacceptable.”
The PSC is a union that serves to protect staff members at the City University of New York. The PSC has a Health and Safety committee that enforces safety practices to protect workers on campus.
Students have expressed their concerns regarding the college’s response to the threat: “I was surprised that there was a bomb threat, and I believe the situation was not handled appropriately,” Freshman Paul Hovsepian said.
Freshman Elyse Marez shared a similar sentiment, stating: “I was not aware of a bomb threat at all. I recently found out from some friends. I think some more awareness and safety needs to spread with topics like this. I feel like the video was more informative about the school system and less about the bomb threat. I don’t feel relieved after [watching] that video. [Vincent Sinclair] did handle it well though, getting it through with NYPD was the right choice.”
For Adjunct Assistant Sociology Professor Joseph Pascarella the incident is “quite typical but should always [be] investigated thoroughly.”
In the open letter, Doran also wrote: “Despite your obvious concerns, however, you continued to keep the rest of the community in the dark. You did not send out a campus-wide alert. You did not evacuate other buildings (not even the rest of the Music Building, although you seemed to feel the concert hall located there was unsafe for occupants, and that program was directly sent the threatening email). The only information you sent out came from Interim Vice President Hahn, who sent out an email entitled ‘Zoom Link for Middle States Exit Report Readout.’”
The lack of communication and transparency regarding the situation caused a lot of distrust between the QC community and the administration in charge of protecting us. Students agreed with the PSC’s message stating, “They have every right to be upset at our president. He didn’t move swiftly enough to cover the situation fast enough and he left our students in danger.”
On the other hand, Pascarella reminds us: “Sending out a Campus alert is a balance based on a number of factors based on the credibility of the threat. Usually, the information must be vetted to ensure the campus alert doesn’t cause wider panic and a more dangerous situation.”
Toward the end of the video sent by President Wu, Sinclair said: “I look forward to meeting, collaborating and continuously building with each and every one of you from faculty, to staff, to students.” Building a relationship with everyone at QC would build trust and security on campus.
If you ever feel in danger on campus, call 718-977-5912/718-977-5911 or use the blue emergency phones that can be found around campus to contact the public safety office.
