Morehouse College lifts 'shelter in place' due to suspicious package
Morehouse College said its campus can return to normal activities after police investigated a suspicious package, prompting a shelter-in-place order. (FOX 5 Atlanta)
ATLANTA - Morehouse College said its campus could return to normal activities after police investigated a suspicious package, prompting a campus-wide shelter-in-place order.
The college sent a campus alert at 2:38 p.m. instructing people to "shelter in place."
SKYFOX 5 flew over the scene and saw the Atlanta Police Department investigating. The college said it received an indirect threat regarding a package possibly contained explosive wiring placed on the campus. A search did not render a package.
A statement from Morehouse College said, in part:
"Recent threats against HBCUs are proof that we are doing something right. Our ability to use educational excellence to empower talented students means that the status quo will necessarily be disrupted as they become leaders in every field. Though it may make some uncomfortable, we will nevertheless proceed undaunted in our work to create transformative agents of change. No threat has ever, or will ever, stop us from turning dreams into triumph."
Bomb threats at HBCUs
Morehouse College and police had not confirmed whether Monday's incident was related to a bomb threat. Morehouse alerted its campus of a separate threat in February.
It would not be the first threat of violence against a Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
Spelman College closed its campus to due to a bomb threat.
ATLANTA'S SPELMAN COLLEGE, GEORGIA HBCUS TARGETED BY BOMB THREATS
The Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice, and the FBI launched investigations into the bomb threats that started at the beginning of Black History Month. Nearly 20 Black colleges in the Deep South and along the East Coast received bomb threats since February 1.
"These threats are despicable. They are designed to make us feel fearful and vulnerable," Spelman President Mary Schmidt Campbell, Ph.D. said in a statement.
"The SPLC believes this was a racist attack that aims to not only disrupt the start of Black History Month, but the perpetrators wanted to send a message that even learning while Black isn't safe," Lecia Brooks said during an online forum hosted by the Southern Poverty Law Center.