The FBI said it has identified several individuals who are suspected of making bomb threats at historically Black colleges and universities in recent days.
“This investigation is of the highest priority for the Bureau and involves more than 20 FBI field offices across the country,” the FBI said in a statement.
“Although at this time no explosive devices have been found at any of the locations, the FBI takes all threats with the utmost seriousness and we are committed to thoroughly and aggressively investigating these threats,” the bureau said.
At least 14 bomb threats were made Tuesday — the first day of Black History Month — forcing some schools to cancel classes. Howard University in Washington, D.C., also received a threat Monday.
Sen. Mark R. Warner, Virginia Democrat and chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, condemned the threats in a statement Wednesday.
“I am deeply disturbed by the bomb threats that have been made against more than a dozen historically Black colleges and universities. These acts of attempted terror, issued as we enter Black History Month, underscore the alarming reality that racially-motivated violence and extremism is on the rise across the country,” Mr. Warner said.
“Although at this time no explosive devices have been found, FBI and their local law enforcement partners are taking these hate crimes extremely seriously. As Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, I have requested and expect to receive a briefing at the appropriate time, and I remain committed to combatting extremism and hate violence in all of its forms.”
Howard University President Wayne Frederick said the challenges are nothing new for his school, CNN reported.
“We’ve had these challenges before,” Mr. Frederick said Tuesday. “But since I’ve been here [as a student] in 1988, it has not been this widespread and also, I think, this overt.”
The crimes are being investigated as hate crimes, according to the FBI.
Calvert White, a student at Jackson State University in Mississippi, said the threats were nothing new, according to CNN.
“I’m uneasy,” Mr. White said Tuesday. ”HBCUs have a long history of physical threats just because of our existence. I think that the threats aren’t individual or coincidental — that it’s a clear attack on Black students who choose to go to Black schools.”