Atlanta-based institutions have recently received specialized training to better prepare Historically Black colleges and Universities (HBCUs) to respond to bomb threats.
The response training was led by a collaborative effort between the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), a federal agency within the Department of Homeland Security, and the Atlanta University Center Consortium (AUCC). It was focused on providing Atlanta’s HBCUs—Morehouse, Spelman and Clark Atlanta—and local law enforcement agencies with new security tools.
“We needed to make sure that we secure all of our campuses and deal with the stress and the anxiety that these kinds of things raise in our communities,” AUCC Executive Director Michael Hodge said of the training. “These things are historical in Black communities, and it’s important we deal with them head-on.”
While the training was centered on Atlanta-based officials and HBCUs, it was “open to school administrators and law enforcement from dozens of schools across the country.”
This training comes after HBCUs all over the country were hit with a wave of bomb threats, as Blavity previously reported. The threats started right around Black History Month, and several institutions, including Howard, Delaware State, Spelman and Jackson State, received unsubstantiated threats. The threats continued throughout February and beyond, as Morehouse received a threat just last week.
The FBI recently identified 6 juvenile suspects in the racially motivated matter, and the Department of Education also freshly announced a federal grant program to help support impacted HBCUs.
“The recent bomb threats experienced by HBCUs have shaken students and fractured their sense of safety and belonging, which are critical to their academic success and well-being,” U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said. “We, at the Department of Education, recognize how these threats evoke a painful history of violence against Black Americans in this country that is especially traumatizing to HBCU students, faculty and staff.”
