Students said they were afraid to go back to class after more than a dozen more Historically Black Colleges and Universities received bomb threats on Tuesday, the first day of Black History Month. Schools stretching across at least seven states and the District of Columbia were on high alert, just a day after threats were made against a host of other Black colleges and less than a month after schools received warnings at the start of the new year.
At least 17 HBCUs issued alerts of bomb threats Tuesday morning. Philander Smith College and Arkansas Baptist College were targeted in Arkansas. The University of the District of Columbia and Howard University received threats in Washington, D.C. In Florida, Edward Waters University canceled classes after threats were made. Spelman College and Fort Valley State University in Georgia; Kentucky State University; Louisiana’s Xavier University; Coppin State and Morgan State in Maryland; Jackson State, Alcorn State, and Mississippi Valley State, along with Rust and Tougaloo colleges in Mississippi; and Harris-Stowe University in Missouri all reported bomb threats on the first day of Black History Month.
“Historically Black Colleges and Universities all over the country have received threats this year,” Spelman President Mary Schmidt Campbell said in a statement Tuesday. “These threats are despicable. They are designed to make us feel fearful and vulnerable.”
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Several of the schools received multiple threats at the beginning of January, including Howard, Xavier, and Spelman. Howard was also targeted on Monday.
“I am unsure if these threats are real or not,” Ezinne Kalu told The Daily Beast. The freshman, who is an honors computer information systems major at Howard, said she hoped the whole situation was just a bad joke.
“I am praying that it is some sort of insane, unfunny joke that holds no actual threats or meaning,” she said. “However, as Black students, we have seen—sometimes firsthand—the lengths people will go to harm Black individuals, especially during a time where we feel most liberated, like during Black History Month.”
Many of the schools had students and staff shelter in place. Some opted for virtual learning, and others canceled classes altogether for the day. By 5 p.m., most threats had been deemed not credible and schools lifted their lockdowns. But that did not keep students from being apprehensive of returning to class.
“Many of my classmates and I have been on edge today,” Kalu said.
Jordan Lewis, a senior biology major at Xavier University, said she and her classmates were uncomfortable even after her school said it was fine for staff and students to return to class.
“A lot of us are still deciding whether to go in person or not,” she told The Daily Beast. “I have a few classes today. One of mine was put online for remote instruction, and my last class may be online as well.”
However, that didn’t give her much reassurance.
“I didn’t want to make any decisions until an official message was given saying everything was clear, but that uneasy feeling about why these threats are happening is still there,” Lewis said.
Lewis, who experienced two bomb threats in the past month, felt the first may have just been a fluke or “low-level issue.”
“Everything was cleared up within a matter of hours,” she said. “But now…other Historically Black Colleges and Universities have received the same threats. My alarm is up… For it to happen back to back and across so many campuses, it’s definitely unsettling.”
“We’re no strangers to people making things harder for us due to the color of our skin,” Lewis said. “And we’re going to keep going after what we deserve no matter who or what tries to stop us or put fear in our hearts.”
Kalu said she felt as if there were not enough resources to support students when Howard received a bomb threat at the beginning of January, and that it shouldn’t have taken three bomb scares for the public and media to take the matter seriously.
“This most recent bomb threat has been the second threat in 24 hours and the third threat in the span of a month,” she said. “I’ve spoken to many students that feel unsafe, especially on an open campus like Howard’s where so many individuals are seen walking the school grounds at all times of the day.”
Taylor Brizill, a senior at Xavier, said she was disappointed in the lack of media coverage the threats had received.
“I only saw local news reporting about it, and I only found out that other universities were targeted from Twitter,” she said. The psychology major pointed out that more notable HBCUs like Howard received more attention than smaller schools.
“I do think that these attacks are racially motivated because of the multiple schools being targeted at the same time,” Brazill said.
When bomb threats were reported at HBCUs on Jan. 5, many of the schools were empty because of the coronavirus pandemic and the winter break, according to The New York Times. Florida Memorial University, Norfolk State University, North Carolina Central, Prairie View A&M University, and the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff were also targeted at that time, The Guardian reported.
Calvert White, a junior studying social science at Jackson State, told CNN that he felt “uneasy.”
“HBCUs have a long history of physical threats just because of our existence,” he said. “I think that the threats aren't individual or coincidental—that it's a clear attack on Black students who choose to go to Black schools.”
Brizill added: “There has been anger about the existence of HBCUs from people who believe that HBCUs cause more separation than not.”
Howard University said early Tuesday morning that the Metropolitan Police Department and Howard University Department of Police had “issued an 'ALL CLEAR' in the investigation of a bomb threat made this morning at approximately 2:55 a.m.” and a shelter in place had been lifted.
On Monday, the school said it was working with local and federal police to investigate the threats. “It is important to note that even after an all-clear is given, we must all remain diligent about our surroundings and activity or materials which may be out of place on campus,” the statement read.
“I want to believe we live in a world that’s evolving and that people wouldn’t use bomb threats to keep such talented young men and women from receiving an education that they deserve, but I also can’t say it didn’t cross my mind that it could be a racially-motivated situation,” Lewis said. “Especially being that it, ironically, occurred on the first day of Black History Month.”
“Black Colleges and Universities are centers of Black excellence,” Kalu asserted. “They are comprised of Black individuals who come from a vast array of backgrounds, ethnicities, and walks of life. Students are able to be unapologetically themselves. …Unfortunately, many people still see this Black excellence as a threat.”
