The U.S. Department of Education announced Friday it has awarded grants to three historically Black universities that received bomb threats last year, including Philander Smith College in Little Rock.
Philander Smith College was awarded $149,963. The college will use its Project School Emergency Response to Violence grant to hire three new security officers, including support for overtime hours, and support for a police department-contracted security detail for a one-year period.
North Carolina Central University in Durham, N.C., was awarded $213,500 and plans to use its grant to train faculty on recognizing effects of PTSD and racial trauma, hire more personnel and pay overtime for employees who handle campus evacuation and student response after hours.
Hampton University in Hampton, Va., was awarded $214,317. The university will use its grants to hire a trauma/resilience mental health specialist and a psychology technician as well as to support training aimed at addressing common trauma reactions that may include depression and risk for suicide.
“The bomb threats made last year against several Historically Black Colleges and Universities not only shattered their campus communities’ sense of safety and created fear in students but strained institutions’ resources by prompting costly campus lockdowns, class cancellations, and law enforcement activities,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona in a news release Friday.
“As Secretary of Education, I categorically reject any and all efforts to terrorize Black students and educators and I am committed to ensuring access to Project SERV grants and all available federal resources to help HBCUs restore safe, welcoming, and nurturing learning environments. I’m pleased that these three grants will advance efforts by HBCU leaders to strengthen mental health supports, help students overcome these traumatic experiences, and invest in their campus security.”
Project School Emergency Response to Violence grants provide short-term funding for local educational agencies and institutions of higher education that have experienced a violent or traumatic incident to assist in restoring a safe environment, according to the Education Department.
The grants are one of the responses from the federal government to address bomb threats that drew the attention of the White House and FBI in January and February 2022.
On Feb. 1, 2022, Arkansas authorities said they were investigating bomb threats made against at least two campuses — Philander Smith College in Little Rock and Shorter College in North Little Rock. During that particular week, a series of bomb threats disrupted life at more than a dozen college campuses. Of particular concern were the threats directed at historically Black colleges and universities, including at least 17 nationally that temporarily canceled in-person classes and locked down buildings.
In March 2022, the U.S. House passed a resolution that denounced the threats and reaffirmed the commitment of the federal government “to combat violence against HBCU students, faculty, and staff.” U.S. Rep. French Hill, R-Arkansas, was an original co-sponsor of the resolution and took to the House floor to urge support for the measure. For several years, Hill had been involved in trying to help Historically Black Colleges and Universities, particularly with more funding.
The 2022 resolution noted that multiple historically Black campuses in Arkansas were targeted by bomb threats, including the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, Philander Smith College in Little Rock and Shorter College in North Little Rock, according to the bipartisan resolution.
The U.S. Department of Education established Project School Emergency Response to Violence grants. The recipients in 2022 included Tougaloo College, Fayetteville State University, Southern University Law Center, Fisk University and Coppin State University, according to the Education Department.
In Friday’s announcement, the Education…
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