‘It’s unfathomable’: No arrests made 6 months after HBCU bomb threats

Six months later, there have been no arrests. No suspects have been named, there have been no public statements about what triggered the threats and no readability given as as to if the incidents have been linked.

“I’m beyond frustrated,” mentioned Carmen Walters, president of Tougaloo College in Mississippi, at a gathering of HBCU presidents at Charlie Palmer Steakhouse in D.C. in August. “I’m very angry that no one has been brought to justice, but there’s been no conversation about the investigation at all.”

To the varsity leaders, it appears as if the incidents that roiled their campuses have been forgotten. They say the threats that triggered lockdowns and evacuations, and shuttered school rooms, positioned a monetary burden on their establishments that they weren’t anticipating as they carried out hardened safety measures. They need extra money for security upgrades — and so they wish to see these accountable delivered to justice.

The FBI mentioned no explosive units have been discovered, however HBCU leaders say not having a public arrest has created an uneasy ambiance at their faculties. The vitriolic calls, they are saying, took an intense toll on the psychological well being of scholars and their households, who have been additionally below duress from the pandemic.

The bomb threats took away their sense of safety on a campus “that’s always been a safe haven for them,” mentioned Dwaun Warmack, president of Claflin University in South Carolina. The calls, that are all recorded, he mentioned have been filled with “hate” and “disgust” for his or her establishments and the scholars they serve.

“If you could hear the recording,” he mentioned, “how many times was the word n—-r mentioned in that call? ‘You n—-rs will die today.’ And to have to play that back … It’s still challenging, and again, no one has been brought to justice.”

The FBI mentioned in a press release that the bureau is working with 34 FBI discipline places of work and nonetheless “investigating a series of bomb threats targeting community colleges, colleges and universities across the country.”

“Although at this time no explosive devices have been found at any of the locations, the FBI takes all threats seriously,” the FBI mentioned.

The Biden administration has opened up an utility course of for faculties to obtain grants to assist college students’ psychological well being and campus safety. But just one HBCU, Southern University Law Center in Louisiana, has obtained a grant. The award was announced Monday, nearly seven months after the varsity obtained the menace.

“The Biden-Harris Administration strongly condemns threats to our nation’s historically Black colleges and universities,” an Education Department spokesperson mentioned in a press release.

The FBI has held just a few calls with campus leaders, in response to Lodriguez Murray, United Negro College Fund senior vice chairman of public coverage and authorities affairs. But the FBI has not accepted their March request for a labeled briefing for an replace on the continued investigation. The group pressed the FBI for a briefing once more in July.

“In the year 2022, when we see all kinds of other crimes being solved systematically and seriously, the fact that this one has not been solved, which gives the tone and tenor it is not being taken seriously, it’s unfathomable to this community,” mentioned Murray of UNCF, which represents Claflin University, Tougaloo College and different non-public HBCUs.

Criticisms of the Biden administration’s response

HBCU advocacy teams have been urging Congress and the Education Department since February to shore up funding for the 100-plus establishments to bolster public security.

The Biden administration took some motion in March by permitting HBCUs to use for emergency grants after the bomb threats. The grants introduced by Vice President Kamala Harris, an HBCU graduate, vary from $50,000 to $150,000 per faculty and are available from the Project School Emergency Response to Violence fund.

They are supposed to assist faculties get well from a violent or traumatic occasion, and can be utilized to boost campus public security and psychological well being assist for college students.

“We will continue to work closely with our federal partners to make sure HBCU leaders have access to all available federal resources to respond to threats of violence, strengthen campus security and provide students with the safe and nurturing learning environments that have defined HBCUs,” an Education Department spokesperson mentioned.

HBCU leaders mentioned they have been grateful for the administration’s assist however the course of to get assist is cumbersome.

“Why do we have to apply for a grant when you know I had a bomb threat? You know I had all these expenses,” Walters mentioned. “You’re telling me, ‘OK, you need to reinforce your buildings. You need to get a new sound system, get a new alarm system, do all these things’ — and there are no dollars to do that.”

“I think it’s a complete joke,” she mentioned. “I think the grant process was just a way to say, ‘OK, here’s a bone. Stop crying. Stop complaining.’”

Southern University Law Center was awarded a $133,200 grant. The Education Department mentioned 5 extra establishments have utilized for Project SERV grants, and they’re working with the establishments to supply technical help for finishing the grant utility course of.

HBCU leaders additionally took challenge with an evaluation from the Education Department’s Federal Student Aid workplace that they have been required to fill out. The Education Department mentioned it makes use of the shape to look at actions taken by the varsity to maintain the campus secure.

The evaluation, the faculty presidents mentioned, was onerous and requested concerning the Clery Act and campus safety techniques.

“The most disappointing piece for me was the three-to-five page assessment that they asked for — like we did something to deserve a bomb threat,” Warmack mentioned. “Like it was our fault that we received a bomb threat. So I didn’t fill it out.”

Additionally, a gathering between Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and more than 40 HBCU presidents in January to debate campus security and safety left some HBCU leaders feeling confused and unheard.

“Although the administration is good on most HBCU matters … The handling of this situation has felt bungled,” Murray mentioned, including that the joint secretary name that was billed to be concerning the threats ended up being about what the administration has completed to assist the faculties and the historic nature of the decision.

“While we’re grateful for all of that, the institutions and their leaders are frustrated and need more support, especially on the law enforcement side,” Murray mentioned.

The Education Department spokesperson mentioned the FBI and Department of Homeland Security have held briefings “with relevant university leaders and security officials to hear directly from them and to share information, and we have delivered more funding to HBCUs than any other administration — with additional funds on the way.”

After inquiries to the Biden administration concerning the federal response to the threats, HBCU advocates and Claflin University have been requested by the Education Department to ship additional remark to POLITICO about their relationship with the administration forward of the story’s publish date, faculty officers and advocates mentioned.

The National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education, which represents HBCUs and predominantly Black establishments, despatched POLITICO an unsolicited assertion saying its “experience working with this Administration has been different than that of some of our colleagues.” They went on to say: “We have found that there is a team at the Department of Education who understands the centrality of HBCUs to American progress.”

Threats ongoing

Ryan T. Young, FBI govt assistant director of intelligence, informed the House Oversight Committee in March that the company’s investigation has led to “one person and a small group.” No arrests have been made, he informed lawmakers, including that there have been “challenges with attribution” as a result of “some of [the threats] come from encrypted platforms.” The bureau is barely investigating bomb threats made since Jan. 31.

Institutions are nonetheless being threatened immediately, Murray mentioned. Since the bomb threats, some campuses have been defaced, and others have obtained cyber assaults. One establishment was threatened after it was in consideration to be a polling place within the upcoming election.

“I’ve heard the serious nature of the threats. I’ve heard the students, faculty, staff, administrators called out by their name, derogatory terminology,” Murray mentioned.

For these schools, a decision by way of an arrest is vital to make sure others who search to terrorize their establishments are deterred from making comparable threats.

When requested if the federal authorities would have responded in a different way had the universities been predominantly white, Tougaloo’s president instantly answered sure, whereas Claflin’s chief hesitated.

“I just know we wasn’t treated right,” Warmack mentioned of Claflin.

“Look, I went to a white school,” Walters of Tougaloo replied. “I can promise you, baby, it would’ve been different.”