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Texas A&M; campus of 60,000 evacuate after bomb threat

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HOUSTON -- Texas A&M; University officials evacuated the campus of about 60,000 Friday after the school received a bomb threat, authorities said.

The school, which is located in College Station, about 95 miles north of Houston, received the threat by phone about 11:30 a.m. CDT, spokesman Lane Stephenson told The Times.

Stephenson could not say more about the threat, or how campus police have responded. He said officials planned to release more information at briefing this afternoon at the emergency operations center in nearby Bryan, Texas.

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The evacuation order was posted on the College Station university’s website as a “Code Maroon” warning at 11:34 a.m. Officials said all classes were canceled and that the evacuation would remain in effect until further notice.

Police continued to drive onto the 17.5-acre campus to investigate the threat Friday morning, said Tom Hughes, deputy director of communications for the university.

“All I know is that the university police department and the administration felt like it was a viable threat, therefore issued the evacuation,” Hughes told The Times.

College Station police officer Rhonda Seaton told The Times that her department was assisting with traffic control around campus but that campus police were handling the investigation.

Lt. Allan Baron, a campus police spokesman, did not return calls Friday.

Texas A&M;’s football team is scheduled to play Louisiana State University on Saturday at home on Kyle Field at 11 a.m. Hughes said that if the bomb threat is resolved by the end of Friday, officials hope the game can go on.

Last month, bomb threats at the University of Texas at Austin, A&M;’s rival and one of the largest universities in the country, as well as schools in North Dakota and Ohio prompted tens of thousands of people to evacuate, although no bombs were ever found at any of the campuses.

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