"Terroristic threats" disrupt life at HBCUs across the U.S.
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Students at the Spelman College campus in Atlanta, Georgia. Photo: Elijah Nouvelage/Bloomberg via Getty Images.
Classes and campus activities are cancelled at multiple historically Black colleges and universities after potentially "terroristic threats" were directed at their campuses, according to multiple outlets.
Why it matters: The threats are disrupting the lives of thousands of HBCU students amid a string of fake emergency calls that have affected American universities in recent weeks.
Driving the news: At least seven HBCUs went on lockdown on Thursday, including Alabama State University, Virginia State University, Hampton University, Spelman College, Southern University and A&M College, Clark Atlanta University, Bethune-Cookman.
- Some of the schools, including Spelman, Southern, Clark Atlanta and VSU have since lifted their shelter-in-place orders after no threats were found.
- It is not immediately clear if the threats are connected or racially motivated.
What they're saying: "The Department of Justice and FBI must thoroughly investigate any potential act of domestic terrorism, and not turn a blind eye when Black college students are apparently being viciously targeted," House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said in a statement.
- Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) wrote on X on Thursday that her "heart aches for the constant trauma that students consistently experience simply because some lack the courage to do better."
- "HBCU campuses have been safehavens since their creation," Crockett wrote. "I'm not sure why or how they have become a target today, but it is not ok."
- Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) posted on X that the threats should "be fully investigated by law enforcement – including the FBI."
Zoom in: "The FBI is aware of hoax threat calls to a number of Historically Black Colleges and Universities," an FBI spokesperson told Axios in an emailed statement.
- The spokesperson said they currently have "no information to indicate a credible threat," but will continue to work with their local law enforcement partners as threats emerge.
Zoom out: At least a dozen universities faced swatting incidents, or fake emergency calls, in mid-August as classes returned for the school year.
- An online group named Purgatory took credit for that slew of campus lockdowns, including at Villanova, UT-Chattanooga and CU Boulder.
By the numbers: There are 99 HBCUs in America, according to the most recently available data published by the National Center for Educational Statistics in 2022.
- Although HBCUs were originally established to educate Black students who were denied entry to white institutions, roughly a quarter of HBCU students are non-Black today.
Flashback: Over a dozen HBCUs faced bomb threats during Black History Month in 2022.
- At the time, the FBI said it was investigating the threats as potentially "racially or ethnically motivated violent extremism and hate crimes."
Go deeper: FBI investigating HBCU bomb threats as "hate crimes"
