Historically Black Colleges Cancel Classes After Threats

A series of reported threats toward historically Black colleges and universities across the US on Thursday led to lockdown orders, canceled classes, and heightened security. Authorities did not elaborate on the type of threats that were made, and no injuries have been reported. The FBI told the AP that it is taking the "hoax threat calls" seriously and that there is "no information to indicate a credible threat." Although the lockdowns have been lifted, some universities opted to call off classes for the rest of the week and send students home.

• Reaction: US Rep. Troy Carter, D-Louisiana, called the threats said that any threat made against HBCUs is "a threat against us all," adding: "These attacks cannot be tolerated, minimized, or ignored. They must be met with swift and decisive action.
• In Louisiana: Southern University reported a "potential threat to campus safety" on the 8,200-student campus and put students under lockdown for about an hour.
• In Alabama: At Alabama State University, which sits near downtown Montgomery and has an enrollment of about 3,500, students were ordered to shelter in place as police searched each building on campus. About two hours later, the university said that it had received the all-clear from police. However, the school still asked that students shelter in place in their dorms, and classes were canceled for the remainder of the day.
• Others threatened: Clark Atlanta University in Georgia, Virginia State University, Hampton University in Virginia and Bethune-Cookman University in Florida.

• The backdrop: The threats came at a time of heightened worry on school campuses over violence following the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk at a Utah Valley University and a shooting at a Colorado high school. Also, at the start of the school year, at least a dozen college campuses received hoax calls about active shooters. The realistic-sounding calls, some of which had gunshots that could be heard in the background, prompted universities to issue lockdowns with directions to "run, hide, fight."
• Also tightening security: South Carolina State University required anyone coming on the Orangeburg campus to show a photo ID after the threats started surfacing. Spelman College in Atlanta— which neighbors a university that did receive a threat—issued a lockdown Thursday and said it was amping up security measures.