WASHINGTON, DC – One by one, student leaders representing several Historic Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) across the country described before the House Committee on Oversight and Reform Thursday their concern over recent racial threats to their educational institutions, while emphasizing their intent to move forward. ahead.
For Kayleigh Burke, president of the Howard University Student Association, the resulting anxiety felt like “weight” as she navigated her peers in classrooms and campus life in the nation’s capital.
“Students were repeatedly woken up for safety alerts as late as 2 a.m., which always left us on edge as we sensed the next threat was imminent,” said Burke, a senior political scientist from Hayward, California.
Her testimony, delivered before the chamber’s main investigative body, was part of a hearing exploring ways lawmakers can help support HBCU amid a series of unknown, targeted threats.
On January 31 and again on February 1, at the start of Black History Month, 24 HBCUs received threats that bombs were about to explode on their campuses. Since the beginning of the year, at least 36 HBCU units have received 54 such threats. Morehouse College in Atlanta received a bomb threat on Tuesday, prompting students to take shelter in their places. Officials told the commission that the threats were made through phone calls, emails, instant messages and online postings.
“Any threat to these historic institutions cannot stand without dire consequences,” said Representative Byron Donalds, R-Fla., who first called the hearing in February and later helped coordinate the proceedings.
“It is the duty of this committee to demand answers to these disturbing attacks and to reassure students, faculty, and staff of the HBCU community that their fundamental right to safety, appropriate education and public welfare is protected.”
There are more than 100 HBCUs in the United States, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Many of these schools were established before or shortly after the Civil War. While it accounts for about 3 percent of American colleges and universities, HBCU enrolls about 10 percent of all black students. Alumni include Vice President Kamala Harris, Toni Morrison, Thurgood Marshall, Spike Lee, Samuel L. Jackson, and several members of Congress.
Representative Jamie Raskin, D-Maryland, chair of the Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, noted that “the perpetrators behind these actions clearly targeted black colleges and universities, seeking to disrupt and intimidate” these communities. “No other colleges or universities have been targeted and disrupted in the same way that HBCUs have been,” he said.
During the four-hour hearing, all officials from the FBI, the Department of Education and the Department of Homeland Security told members that they are coordinating with HBCU and providing guidance and various tools to help schools keep their students and faculty safe.
Ryan Young, the executive assistant director of the FBI’s intelligence branch, told the commission that the HBCU investigation is its “top priority.”
Young confirmed that no arrests were made but provided new details in response to members’ questions, but details are limited due to the ongoing investigation. Investigators said they believed the majority of the bomb threats were the responsibility of “one person and a small group. Our concern next is that some may be copycats,” he said. There have been previous reports, not publicly confirmed by the FBI, that a number of people, including juveniles, could be among the potential subjects of interest.
The Biden-Harris administration has taken a series of ongoing actions to support HBCUs.
“This intimidation will not continue, and we will not be afraid,” Harris said Wednesday at a White House event attended by Attorney General Merrick Garland, Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security John Tian and Education Secretary Miguel Cardona.
Harris said an HBCU that has been significantly affected by bomb threats will be eligible for short-term grants to restore stressed learning environments. Grants can be used to hire more mental health professionals, enhance campus security and provide specialized training for security personnel. The department also produces a reference guide for colleges and universities with detailed information on detecting, preventing, and recovering from threats and violence.
Earlier this month, the House and Senate passed resolutions condemning threats of violence against the HBCU and affirming its support for safety measures. In addition to the Oversight Committee hearing, the House Committee on Homeland Security held a hearing Thursday on targeting black institutions with threats and violence.
Rep. Alma Adams, of DN.C. “These threats were hate crimes,” founder and co-chair of the bipartisan HBCU Group in Congress. They were acts of terrorism. As a graduate and proud professor of HBCU, I know that HBCU can overcome any challenge, but these challenges should not include violence. Terror and racism have no place on college campuses – or anywhere else.”
In addition to the House resolution, Representative Carolyn B. Maloney, committee chairwoman, told NBC News that Congress should pass the Ignite HBCU Excellence Act to restore a sense of safety on the HBCU campus. The Ignite HBCU and MSI Excellence Act will allow historically black colleges to apply for grants to improve campus infrastructure, including installing necessary security features.
Michelle Asha Cooper, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Higher Education Programs at the Department of Education also stressed the importance of supporting HBCU students with mental health resources. She said there has been a rise in the number of young people seeking counseling and wellness services at their university amid the shock.
In fact, Emmanuel Okot, president of the Student Government Association at Xavier University in Louisiana, shared how bomb threats negatively affected his classmates.
Some of the students “were so stressed and paranoid that they couldn’t attend classes for the rest of the week,” Houston’s chief business officer told the committee.
However, the students who shared their stories with Congress vowed to move forward.
Devan M. Villvard, who teaches at Florida A&M University and serves as co-chair of the Student Supreme Court, testified that his relatives were at the school in 1999 when there were pipe explosions. The new wave of threats was “an experience that unfortunately showed its face as if it were a generational tradition”.
However, he is determined to graduate this spring.
The HBCUs, he said, “provided a path toward success in pursuing the American Dream for Black Americans.”
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