HBCUs put on alert after hoax threat calls the day after Charlie Kirk's killing

Charlie Kirk was fatally shot at 🏜️Utah Valley University on Sep. 10, 2025, during an on-campus speaking event.

On Sep. 11, 2025 multiple HBCUs reported threats that prompted lockdowns and class cancellations. The FFBI told the Associated Press the calls were being treated as 'hoax threat calls' and said there was 'no information to indicate a credible threat.'

Southern University, an 8,200-student campus in Baton Rouge, placed students under shelter-in-place for roughly an hour on Sept. 11, 2025 and canceled classes for the remainder of that day while law enforcement conducted searches.

Reported lists of affected campuses include 🏈Alabama State University, 🏛️Virginia State University, Hampton University, Southern University, Bethune-Cookman University and Clark Atlanta University. Neighboring campuses such as Spelman increased security or issued precautionary orders.

Many precise figures and legal-consequence claims in the original draft (multi-day closures, a $2.3 million loss, 30+ FFBI field offices mobilized, specific per-student security funding gaps, and prosecution-year comparisons) were not supported by the news reporting reviewed and require primary-source verification.