At least eight historically Black colleges and universities received bomb threats last week, just about a week ahead of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
What’s happening: Multiple schools across the country reported bomb threats last week. The list of schools includes:
- Howard University in Washington, D.C.
- Xavier University in Louisiana.
- University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff.
- Prairie View A&M University in Texas.
- North Carolina Central University.
- Florida Memorial University.
- Spelman College.
In Utah: The University of Utah police department said it investigated reports of a bomb threat at the Black Cultural Center.
- “This threat against our Black Cultural Center comes only a week after recent bomb scares targeted eight Historically Black Colleges and Universities across the country,” the university said in a tweet.
- “The University of Utah is not a haven for this kind of hateful and biased thinking and attacks, and university leaders have committed to completing a thorough review with actionable steps to be implemented during the spring semester.”
Why it matters: The number of bomb threats has dropped across the nation in recent years, according to The Washington Post. This makes the amount of threats against HBCUs troubling.
- “It was not immediately clear whether the threats were connected or whether they were racially motivated,” The Washington Post reports.