The second semester has commenced at Howard University. After the month-long winter break, students and faculty have returned to in-person classes, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic and, now, reoccurring bomb threats to the university.
The first bomb threat was reported on January 4. Since the start of the second semester, the university has received two more bomb threats- occuring back to back on January 31 and February 1. No explosives had been detected and the Howard University Department of Police issued an “ALL CLEAR” on all three occurrences.
Within the last month, repeated bomb threats have been made at 19 historically black colleges and universities. In addition to Howard University, HBCUs such as Bowie State University, Southern University, Delaware State University, Bethune-Cookman University and Albany State University received bomb threats this Monday. Of the six HBCUs to receive bomb threats, five of them cancelled their classes and went into a lockdown. Howard University, however, allowed normal campus operations to continue.
In a campus status update email sent from the Office of University Communications, the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Tashni-Ann Dubroy stated, “Between 3-6 a.m., the Howard University Department of Public Safety and the Metropolitan Police Department investigated, assessed and eventually cleared the campus after a bomb threat made against our campus. All academic, research, auxiliary and community service functions will open at full capacity and operate during regular business hours for today.”
Since learning of the bomb threats, as well as the university’s response, Howard students have taken to social media to share their discontent with how the situation was handled.
“I believe this situation has been handled extremely poorly. The university says that it is safe for us to be here, but how do we as students know that’s true? Every other HBCU that received a bomb threat today either moved to virtual or canceled class all together. But of course not Howard, and I think that says a lot about how much the school actually cares about its students,” senior TV & film major Caleb Brown said.
When asked if he felt safe returning to in-person instruction, Brown expressed that he did not feel safe. “In a time where we have the ability to switch to a virtual classroom, I’m not sure what the push is to make sure students are sitting in seats on campus,” he said.
Junior TV & film major, Ann-Corynn Riviere, expressed similar sentiments to Brown, as this was the second threat made within 48 hours. “Most people would have expected the second time to warrant a lengthier and more in depth investigation or at least less than approximately four hours between the announcement and “resolution” of the issue,” she said.
According to ABC News, the FBI is aware of the ongoing bomb threats and is conducting an investiagtion. The university plans to host a series of town halls to update the community on the investigation process.