AAU and 63 other higher education associations urged House and Senate leaders to take immediate action to address repeated bomb threats at HBCU campuses and to immediately pass a concurrent resolution condemning the violence and reaffirming support for HBCUs.
Several HBCUs have received bomb threats this year; 18 received threats on February 1 alone. As the letter notes, “These acts of terror deliberately strike at institutions that have a unique significance to Black Americans and to American higher education.” The letter reaffirms the higher education community’s support to HBCUs and urges lawmakers to ensure that the crimes are “fully and aggressively investigated, and the offenders prosecuted in accordance with the grievous harm they have caused.”
The letter also urges lawmakers to immediately pass H. Con. Res. 70 , which would “put Congress on record on this matter of national importance.” The concurrent resolution condemns violence and the threat of violence against HBCUs; recognizes Black History Month and honors the legacy of HBCUs; and reaffirms the federal government’s commitment to combat violence against HBCU students, faculty, and staff. Finally, the letter requests Congress to hold hearings “with a focus on the persistent issues underlying these crimes and how to prevent future occurrences.”