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Southern Oregon University Campus Shut Down Over Handwritten Note

A college campus in Oregon was closed Wednesday after the discovery of a handwritten note containing what officials called a "potential threat."
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A college campus in Oregon was closed and classes canceled Wednesday after the discovery of a handwritten note containing what police called a "potential threat."

Southern Oregon University would not say what was written in the message, which was found in a women's bathroom at its main campus in Ashland on Tuesday night.

SOU said there would be a "highly increased presence" of police and security officials.

"The investigation is ongoing right now so we've been asked not to release specifics about it at this point," Ryan Brown, head of community and media relations for SOU, told NBC News early Wednesday.

Brown said no students had been evacuated from their dorms but that the university was requesting they remained in their rooms. He added that the note was found in a women's bathroom in the campus' Education Psychology building.

Only "essential personnel," such as campus public safety and food services staff, were required to report to work, the college said.

The college said its satellite campus, the Higher Education Center, in Medford, around 10 miles northwest, would remain open.

The potential threat comes less than a week after 26-year-old Christopher Harper-Mercer went on a rampage at Umpqua Community College, in Roseburg — around 80 miles north of Ashland — in which he shot dead 10 people including himself.