Southern University and A&M College in Baton Rouge will be closed through the weekend after officials called a lockdown Thursday morning due to a “potential threat.”
At least seven historically Black colleges and universities across the South also received threats. Many have cancelled classes and events for the next few days while authorities investigate.
The last time HBCU campuses faced collective threats was in 2022, when at least 19 schools received bomb threats, which were eventually linked to a juvenile prank caller.
Southern University announced that the campus was on lockdown at 11 a.m. on Thursday and lifted the alert less than two hours later, according to an update the university posted on X.
Students residing off campus and all non-essential employees should evacuate campus, according to the post, which says, “Accommodations will be made for students who reside on campus, and instructions will be communicated directly to them.”
The threats to HBCUs come a day after Charlie Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA and a close ally of President Donald Trump, was shot and killed while speaking on a Utah college campus.
Louisiana Rep. Troy Carter, a Democrat, said in a statement that he was “outraged and deeply disturbed” by Thursday’s threats.
“These reprehensible acts are not only an attack on institutions of higher learning — they are an attack on our history, our culture, and the promise of opportunity that HBCUs represent for generations of students,” Carter said.
