On Mar. 25th, Queens College received an anonymous threat over the course of two weeks from the ID, “Frankly Concerned,” disrupting the Middle States readout that was meant to take place in LeFrak Concert Hall.
The email from “Frankly Concerned” read, “We demand immediate and unconditional removal of Frank Wu, Troy Hahn [and] Joseph Loughren before [the] fireworkz show at 10:30 today.” Kiely Hall was then evacuated without notice or explanation.
Thirty minutes prior to the threat sent to QC Admissions, Academic Advising and other departments, The Knight News received an anonymous message from the same ID that reads, “Look into Frank Wu (intoxication on campus grounds), Troy Hahn (bribery scandal with tax levy suppliers) and Joseph Loughren (embezzlement of public funds).” The identity of the sender is unknown.
The bomb threat and evacuation followed an earlier threat on March 13th, to the Summit residence hall, which led to a shelter-in-place and a sweep of the building before being deemed a hoax.
The Middle States reading was meant to take place at the LeFrak Concert Hall at 10 a.m., but was relocated to the Goldstein Theater due to “overflow,” according to an Open Letter to President Wu Regarding Wednesday’s Credible Threat written by Erica Doran, QC’s Professional Staff Congress Chapter Chair. Notably, the Goldstein Theatre’s maximum capacity is less than the LeFrak Concert Hall by approximately 40 seats.
“…You had been advised that LeFrak has the capacity to livestream events to overflow rooms, and according to attendees, the venue was less than 25% filled at the time. I understand that once at Goldstein, attendees were required to exit the building and re-enter through a metal detector, again attesting to your belief in the credibility of the threat,” reads Doran’s letter.
An anonymous source lent their report once they were reseated at 11a.m. “I was texting with [my] colleagues about how embarrassing this ordeal must have looked to the evaluators. Little did I know, the evaluators had already been evacuated.” Upon leaving, they overheard Jay Hershenson, Vice President for Communications and Marketing, responding to criticism on the Administration’s handling of this situation, in which he told the student to “Lower [their] voice.”
Despite the hoax having been in close proximity to the Music Building, nobody outside of LeFrak received any sort of warning. Professor Alex Crowley, Substitute Visual & Performing Arts-Music Librarian, shared his perspective. “From my office I can see Goldstein, and at some point between 10:30-11:15, I watched everyone leave Goldstein Theater as if the event were over,” said Crowley, “It was shortly after this that colleagues in the Music Dept office came over to tell us about the bomb threat and that it was why the [Middle States Commission on Higher Education] (MSCHE) report event was moved, and also that they’d heard Kiely Hall had been evacuated earlier. We all wondered why the ACSM hadn’t also been evacuated, since the threat targeted the event scheduled for LeFrak. Everyone in the Music office was angry and upset, but nobody was sure what to do.”
An anonymously published petition that called for the investigation and removal of Frank Wu and his cabinet opened up on Mar. 26th. The PSC has addressed the petition, stating that the “PSC-CUNY does not endorse anonymous petitions, and the union has not endorsed this one.”
On March 27, President Wu released a nineteen-minute video addressing the community. After misquoting the threat email, stating that “Fireworkz” was spelled with an “X”, he reveals that he and Public Safety will do a “tabletop exercise,” where they will, in his words, “replay everything, and look at how we could improve in terms of coordination with NYPD, CUNY…and in every aspect of the handling of this situation.” In response to the lack of a formal warning, he says: “We don’t want to create incentives that would encourage some other wrongdoer to perpetuate a hoax like this.”
Students and faculty alike question both their safety at QC and the integrity of those who manage it as a result of how this was handled. “I have no confidence that my workplace (and my students’ learning environment) is a safe one, where my well-being is prioritized,” Doran’s letter reads. “This is a terrifying reality to face. One of these days, unfortunately, the threat may be real, and I fear that the outcome will be an avoidable tragedy.”
