For the last month, bomb threats have disrupted life at historically Black universities and colleges across the United States. Unfortunately, HBCU students and faculty on at least 13 campuses kicked off Black History Month with the looming fear of such threats. This is the third time since January 4 that multiple HBCUs received the notices. At this time, there’s no word on a suspect (s).
Tuesday’s Threats
According to CNN, the list of threatened schools includes: Coppin State University, Mississippi Valley State University, Morgan State University, Alcorn State University, Tougaloo College, Jackson State University, Kentucky State University, Fort Valley State University, Howard University, Xavier University, University of the District of Columbia, Spelman College and Edward Waters University.
Several schools immediately shut their campuses advising students to shelter in place or in their dorm rooms. Others moved classes online for the day while the threats are assessed. Many of the threats came in during the early morning. Jackson State University tweeted that they received the threat at 4:15 a.m. local time. Howard University said via Twitter the threat came in at 2:55 a.m. local time. The University of the District of Columbia received theirs at 3:20 a.m. local time.
Campus life is slowly returning as HBCUs provide updates via social media and their websites. So far, no explosions or bomb findings are on record. At the time of publication, police gave several schools the all clear, including Tougaloo College, Mississippi Valley State University and Kentucky State University.
Past Threats
Just yesterday, six HBCUs including Howard University reported bomb threats. The unidentified culprit(s) have targeted Howard University all three times within the month. They also targeted Xavier University twice. Additional schools named were: Southern University and A&M, Bethune-Cookman University, Albany State University, Bowie State University and Delaware State University. Each educational institution closed its campus and suspended university operations. Nonetheless, authorities did not report the finding or explosion of bombs at any of the HBCUs on Monday.
On January 4, at least seven schools received the same threats. That list included: Howard University, University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, Florida Memorial University, Norfolk State University, North Carolina Central University, Prairie A&M University in Texas and Xavier University.
This is a developing story.
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