University of Toronto Under Increased Surveillance After Commenter Threatens to 'Spray Bullets' At Feminists
LatestThe University of Toronto is under increased surveillance after an account called “Kill Feminists” threatened to gun down female students, professors, and feminists on a public Toronto blog. Many students argue, however, that the University’s response is lacking.
On the evening of September 5, the user wrote a post on blogTO outlining the threat:
The feminists who act rude to you at the University of Toronto should be shot to death and the remaining survivors tied to a tree with their throats slit with a dull knife.
You have nothing to lose. Go into the nearest Sociology or Womens [sic] Studies classroom next week, and fire bullets into the Professor’s head and spray bullets all over the room until all the feminists are dead.
Another post, published two minutes later read:
If a female student or professor acts lewd in the classroom and disrespects you at the University of Toronto. You can rent a machine gun at Jarvis.
Walk into the classroom and fire a bullet in the feminist professor’s head and proceed to spray bullets all over the classroom until all the slutty women are killed. If you need any guns to kill any feminists at the University of Toronto next week, there is a gang at Jarvis who is renting guns for $40 a day.
The comments have been deleted.
In response, the university’s Vice-President and Provost Cheryl Regehr sent a school-wide safety alert email, in which she noted that the administration was working with the Toronto Police Service and Peel Regional Police Services “to support an investigation into anonymous threats made on a public blog against the University of Toronto.”
“We have increased campus police presence on our three campuses, and we are monitoring the situation closely,” the email continued. “We are following the advice and direction of Toronto Police Services with respect to their expert assessment of safety on campus. We will continue to monitor the concern with Toronto Police Services and provide updates to the community.”
Regehr then encourages students to report suspicious activity to police or campus police.
Althea Blackburn-Evans, director of media relations for the university, told Jezebel that the administration has also consulted “experts in risk assessment, who have advised that the online threats indicate a low risk of violence,” which she also noted is consistent with the advice from Toronto and Peel police.
“We did assist the Toronto police in an investigation,” said a spokesperson from the Peel Regional Police in an interview with the Star. “Our portion of the investigation, what we have done, is closed until they need us again — if in fact they do.”