[Update: March 23, 2026, 9:15 a.m.]: On the afternoon of March 20, UC Santa Barbara Dean of Students Joaquin Becarra sent students a follow-up email about the criminal threat at Henley Hall on Thursday, March 19. Becerra said that the emergency notification that campus police issued to the campus was made “out of an abundance of caution to allow for a thorough and safe search of the building.”
Becerra writes that UCPD did not identify any threats after the search and believes the criminal threat was not credible. He said the incident was still under investigation.
UCSB has not said what the criminal threat was. In his statement to students, Becerra said if anyone had information related to the incident or other safety concerns, they should contact UCPD at (805) 893-3446.
[Update: March 19, 2026, 9 p.m.]: UC Santa Barbara Police Department alerted the campus community that they no longer needed to avoid Henley and the surrounding area at 5:31 p.m. on March 19.
Henley Hall hosts the Institute of Energy Efficiency on campus and contains offices and lab space for multiple departments, including the electrical engineering department and the computer engineering department. It does not contain classrooms; graduate students, post-docs, professors, and administrators generally work in the building.
About 20 people were in Henley Hall around 3 p.m. this afternoon, including PhD student Rosa Zelaya. Zelaya said she was working in her shared office when a police officer came to the office and told her and her colleagues that UCPD was investigating a threat. She said the police officer told them they did not think the threat was credible, but that they were treating it as credible and asked the graduate students to shelter in place. Zelaya recalls the officer asking the room if anyone knew someone by the name “Terrance.”
She said she and her officemates remained in the locked room until about 3:40 p.m. before law enforcement escorted them outside the building. UCPD sent a community alert to avoid the area at 3:52 p.m. They sent another to continue to avoid the area at 4:32 p.m., before giving the all-clear at 5:31 p.m.
The Independent has reached out to UC Santa Barbara to ask for more information about the threat, its credibility, and whether UCPD made any arrests.
[Original story]:
UC Santa Barbara’s police department evacuated a building on campus on Thursday afternoon due to what it called a criminal threat on campus. At 3:52 p.m., the police department sent an emergency alert advising people to avoid Henley Hall, which houses research groups whose projects relate to energy efficiency and labs. It also asks people to avoid the outdoor area near Henley Hall, and nearby parking lots. Bystanders said they saw people with bullet proof vests at the building around 3 p.m.
