Monday Fisk University was affected by an unfortunate trend of bomb threats at HBCUs. Get the full story from Joseph Wenzel and Danielle Jackson at WSMV News 4 Nashville.
After recommendations from Metro Police, the school administration closed Fisk University on Monday.
VP of Fisk University Jens Fredericksen said the school received a threat around 9 a.m. Fredericksen said there would be explosives or a bomb. At that time, the university told everyone to “shelter-in-place.”
Fredericksen said the police gave the “all-clear” on campus and did not find anything credible.
“I think once you start hearing the word of credible threats like that elsewhere, you have to be extremely mindful,” Fredericksen said. “And Fisk has always been a haven of safety, and we’re obviously a small university where we can rely upon a sense of family atmosphere where everybody looks out for one another.”
While the threat was not credible, the situation was concerning for junior Tafarri Pleas, who was on campus at the time.
“Automatically, our dean ran in and was like nobody can leave and nobody can come in, and everybody was just confused but didn’t really know what was going on,” he said.
The FBI identified six juveniles connected to the HBCU University threats. They say that the teens are tech-savvy. Authorities say that the threats appear to be racially motivated.
“That immediately made me think about all of the bomb threats that have been going on around the country at different HBCU’s, so I was like maybe this is the same thing,” Pleas said.
Fisk University officials said faculty, staff, and students, who are not living on campus, have been urged to leave the Nashville campus “in light of recent events.” While residential students have been told to stay “to remain in their residence halls, except for their dining needs.”
Fisk University officials said the dining halls would remain open for students and staff.
There will be increased campus security on Monday. Several uniformed officers would be in and around campus residential and dining facilities. Fredericksen said they have beefed up their security in recent weeks because of the bomb threats all over the country.
Last week, bomb threats were called into several historically Black colleges and universities, causing them to go into lockdown.
