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"
