BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- Bridgewater State College was holding classes Thursday, although attendance was expected to be low after death threats were made at the campus. One of the latest targeted the school president, increasing tensions around the college south of Boston.

College president Dana Mohler-Faria was named in the latest death threats found in a women's bathroom. There have been a series of at least seven written death threats discovered at the campus recently. One said, "Death 2/28," and another said, "Murder, 2/28."

Other threats were found earlier in the week, all mentioning the Feb. 28 date. Campus officials have brought in extra campus police for Thursday's classes.

"We, in this campus environment, cannot allow ourselves to be held hostage, so we are therefore opening the campus. There has been a threat personally to me and I'm here just to demonstrate that we are a campus, we are a community and, you know, this is not a tolerable situation," Mohler-Faria said.

But some students said they will probably stay away from classes anyway.

"Some of my teachers have e-mailed me and said if we don't feel comfortable going to class we don't have to," student Ashleigh Madden said.

"I think a lot of people aren't going to go," student Christine Willis said.

"We really need to keep the college open unless there's a very specific threat that we feel is an imminent thing. We're not sure that this is that situation," Bridgewater Vice President of Student Affairs David Ostroth said.

Authorities said they didn't know if the various threats were connected. Handwriting analysts were looking at the threats and a $500 reward has been offered for any information leading to arrests.

Bridgewater State wasn't the only Massachusetts college beefing up security Thursday.

Police presence on the University of Massachusetts Amherst campus was also increased after a janitor found a threatening message and a building at Framingham State College was evacuated Wednesday after a student found a note mentioning a bomb.

All of the schools were scheduled to remain open Thursday.

There is no evidence that any of the threats were connected.