Fayetteville State University has received a grant from the U.S. Department of Education in response to a bomb threat earlier this year.
Classes were canceled and students sheltered in place after the bomb threat in February. It was one of more than 50 called in to historically black colleges and universities across the country. Investigations are ongoing, but no arrests have been made.
The Education Department is giving Fayetteville State $80,000 which can be used for trauma recovery, mental health support, and increasing security. Tougaloo College in Mississippi also received a $420,000 grant from the Project School Emergency Response to Violence program, or Project SERV. The department says more grants will be awarded in the coming weeks.
“The bomb threats made against HBCUs earlier this year not only strained institutions’ resources by prompting costly campus lockdowns, class cancellations, and law enforcement activities, but shattered students’ sense of safety and heightened anxiety throughout these campus communities," Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said in a statement. “That is why earlier this year I announced that HBCUs impacted by these disturbing bomb threats would be eligible to apply for funds through our Project SERV program.”
Meanwhile, HBCU leaders have criticized the slow pace of the investigation into the bomb threats.
“I’m very angry that no one has been brought to justice, but there’s been no conversation about the investigation at all,” Tougaloo College president Carmen Walters said in August.