Students and their family and friends outside the Dental School building. Photo / Christine O'Connor
Students and their family and friends outside the Dental School building. Photo / Christine O'Connor
Hundreds of Dunedin university graduands and their families continue to wait on tenterhooks for a decision on tomorrow's graduation ceremonies.
After it emerged yesterday that a security threat sent to the University of Otago earlier this week warned of a shooting, vice-chancellor Prof Harlene Hayne said the university continued to work closely with police and remained "hopeful" the two ceremonies would go ahead as planned.
The university would advise the more than 700 graduands affected by early this afternoon, Prof Hayne said.
The "specific and detailed" threat led the university to abandon two graduation ceremonies on Wednesday and Otago Polytechnic to postpone graduation ceremonies scheduled for today and pre-grad ceremonies yesterday and today.
The Otago Daily Times understands the security threat related to a shooting, but yesterday police refused to confirm whether or not that was true.
In a statement last night, Southern District Commander Paul Basham said while he understood people wanted to know the nature of the threat, at this stage releasing details could compromise the outcome of the investigation.
"This is a complex investigation and it's important we have the opportunity to work through it systematically and thoroughly.
"The safety of our community remains our priority and we continue with our two-pronged approach — an active investigation and an increased police presence in the city."
He encouraged anyone with information to contact police.
Massey University lecturer in security studies Dr Rhys Ball, a former New Zealand Security Intelligence Service (NZSIS) officer, said the university and police were right to be "erring on the side of caution" in how they treated the threat.
Caroline Freeman College warden Chris Addington with students and family walk away after the graduation ceremonies were postponed. Photo / Peter McIntosh
It had come in the wake of several terrorism-related events in this country and overseas, so the police had to assume a worst-case scenario.
Dr Ball said he was not surprised the police and university had withheld knowledge of the threat for at least a day before postponing Wednesday's ceremonies.
"That gives you 24 hours to work out where the threat has emanated from, and if it's legitimate."
Giving a warning or a threat before carrying out an act of violence was not normal, but the history of terrorism had many examples of it, such as by the Provisional Irish Republican Army in the 1970s and 1980s.
"It depends on the motivation for actually carrying out an act of violence."
The rise of electronic communication meant security threats were much easier to make than in the past, and therefore they happened more frequently.
"But you have to treat each one as legitimate and serious until it becomes clear otherwise that it's not.
While it was normal for any organisation handling a security threat to keep information close to their chest, he thought it unlikely the police would deliberately deceive the public by saying they had not identified who made a threat when in fact they did, "because it might come back to bite you".
Otago Polytechnic said yesterday it had made the "devastating" decision to postpone graduation and pre-grad ceremonies scheduled for yesterday and today, affecting 1150 graduands, after following advice from police.
Otago Polytechnic chief executive Dr Megan Gibbons said the safety of students and staff was its "number one priority".
It was working on rescheduling events for next year.
Otago University Students' Association president Jack Manning said graduating students were naturally disappointed by Wednesday's postponements because it was a day they had been working towards for years.
"This is the culmination of years of hard work and sacrifice," Manning said.
"But that said, we will show resilience — maybe it's something in the water, maybe it's the events of this year."
That was shown by how many had celebrated the occasion anyway, with hundreds walking around the university campus on Wednesday with their families and having their photos taken.
However, there would be some for whom the postponements would be harder to accept.
"That feeling is also very valid — people handle things differently."
A free counselling service was available, through Student Support Services, for anyone who needed help, he said.
