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Local colleges warn about threat of violence

Several local universities on Sunday warned students and faculty that a threat of violence has been made against an unspecified school "near Philadelphia."

Several local universities on Sunday warned students and faculty that a threat of violence has been made against an unspecified school "near Philadelphia."

The University of Pennsylvania, Drexel University, Temple University, Villanova University and St. Joseph's University are among the schools that issued the warnings.

According to statements from those schools, authorities have said they have no knowledge of any specific threat to students or a particular university.

The threat indicated that the violence would take place Monday at 2 p.m., according to statements posted on several school websites.

The statement on Drexel's site indicated that the threat was made by social media.

"Since the shooting last week at a community college in Oregon, the FBI has seen similar social media postings throughout the country," the Drexel posting reads.

The statement posted on Penn's website reads: "In an abundance of caution we are working closely with federal and local law enforcement agencies to monitor this unspecified threat. The division of public safety has increased our police, security officer and CCTV patrols."

The schools also said in their statements that security patrols would be increased on campus Monday.

The schools will be operating normally on Monday, but the statements urge students to report any suspicious activity.

asteele@phillynews.com

856-779-3876 @AESteele