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Jackson State president testifies before Congress about HBCU bomb threats

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Brittany Brown
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On Feb. 1, six Mississippi colleges, including Jackson State University, were targeted with bomb threats. The recent threats correlate with historical violence at JSU when, in 1970, two Black students were killed in a barrage of police gunfire.
Brittany Brown, MPB News
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Since the start of 2022, over 50 HBCUs across the country have been the targets of bomb threats. 

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Jackson State president testifies before Congress about HBCU bomb threats

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Campus leaders and lawmakers addressed the issue during a public hearing in Washington D.C., where they discussed safety at historically Black institutions. This comes after a national wave of bomb threats to historically Black colleges and universities earlier this year. Six Mississippi colleges, including Jackson State, were targeted in February. Jackson State University President Thomas Hudson testified before the House Homeland Security Committee and said additional funding can go a long way in boosting campus safety.

"Holistically, you're looking at more training for your campus security, campus police. You're looking at better data science capabilities, increasing your bandwidth, increasing your ability to store the type of data you need so you can do your threat assessments and go back and provide the historical analysis. You're talking about the overall infrastructure of campus," Hudson said during the hearing on March 17.

Hudson told the committee it would cost about $12 million to complete physical and technological improvements to increase campus safety at Jackson State. Vice President Kamala Harris announced this week that HBCUs targeted in this year’s bomb threats are now eligible for immediate grant funding from the Department of Education to upgrade campus security and provide mental health resources.