Campus Alert Archive
Arkansas Baptist

'Another College Nearby': How Arkansas Baptist Was the Unnamed Second Target in a Single-Caller, Three-HBCU Plot

ARbomb threatemergency notificationmedium confidence
Confirmed HoaxDetermined to be a hoax. The institutional response is documented because it reveals how the alert system performed under a perceived real threat.

On February 1, 2022, Arkansas Baptist College in Little Rock was identified by police as the 'another college nearby' referenced by a self-described neo-Nazi in a 1:35 AM CST 911 call that named Philander Smith College, an unnamed second Little Rock college, and Shorter College in North Little Rock as bomb targets. Arkansas Baptist locked down its campus and waited for an FBI-LRPD bomb sweep that found no devices. Local and federal authorities issued an all-clear by noon CST, and the college resumed normal operations.

Alerts
2
Response
—
Killed
—
Injured
—
Institution
Arkansas Baptist College
Hbcu · AR
~600 studentsABC Emergency Notification
Confirmed Timeline

Alert Sequence

2 messages in sequence

Some alert texts below are approximate reconstructions from news coverage, not confirmed verbatim transcripts. Reconstructed texts are shown in italic with a dashed border. Verified verbatim texts have a solid border and are marked accordingly.

INITIAL ALERTSMS
Approximate reconstructionKATV coverage of the Little Rock HBCU bomb threats153 chars
ABC Emergency: Bomb threat received targeting our campus. Lockdown in effect. Do not come to campus. Police on scene conducting sweep. Updates to follow.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

The threat was referenced as 'another college nearby' in the 1:35 AM CST 911 call to LRPD; police presumed this referred to Arkansas Baptist College, also located in Little Rock
Reconstructed from media reporting; the verbatim short-code SMS text was not preserved in a publicly accessible Arkansas Baptist archive
Arkansas Baptist's lockdown was triggered by police notification rather than a direct call to the campus, an unusual chain of activation that highlights the speed of the LRPD-HBCU communication channel
ALL CLEAREmail
Approximate reconstructionLittle Rock Patch coverage of the bomb threat all-clear207 chars
ABC Emergency Update: All clear. The FBI, Little Rock Police Department, and campus security have completed their sweep of campus facilities. No explosive devices were located. Normal operations will resume.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

The noon CST all-clear timing is documented by [Patch](https://patch.com/arkansas/little-rock/2-little-rock-historically-black-colleges-receive-bomb-threats), which states 'local and federal authorities issued an all-clear by noon Tuesday'
Reconstructed from official statements summarized in media reports; the verbatim text was not preserved in a publicly accessible archive
The all-clear came roughly 10 hours after the original 911 call — earlier than Philander Smith's 10:15 AM CST clearance, despite the same coordinated threat source
Context

Background

Arkansas Baptist College is a small private HBCU in Little Rock, Arkansas, founded in 1884 and historically affiliated with the Consolidated Missionary Baptist State Convention. On February 1, 2022, the school was caught up in a single-caller threat campaign that targeted at least three Arkansas HBCUs in one 911 call. According to a Little Rock Police Department report from that morning, a caller at 1:35 AM CST identified himself as a neo-Nazi and said he had set C-4 plastic explosive charges at Philander Smith College, 'another college nearby' (interpreted by police as Arkansas Baptist College, the closest other HBCU in the area), and a vehicle bomb in a white van at Shorter College in North Little Rock. Arkansas Baptist activated its emergency notification, locked down the campus, and waited for the joint FBI-LRPD bomb sweep — the same investigative team simultaneously sweeping Philander Smith less than two miles away. No devices were found, and the lockdown was lifted by approximately noon CST. The threat was one node in a nationwide coordinated wave hitting at least a dozen HBCUs that morning, and one of more than 50 such threats by the end of February 2022. The FBI later identified juveniles as the primary suspects, and federal Project SERV grants flowed to several of the affected institutions to support added security.
Analysis

Key Findings

Arkansas Baptist's lockdown was triggered by LRPD interpretation of an ambiguous threat — 'another college nearby' — illustrating how a single 911 call cascades into multi-campus alert activations
The college's noon CST all-clear came roughly 10 hours after the threat — earlier than Philander Smith's 10:15 AM CST timing, despite both being targets in the same coordinated call
Arkansas Baptist (~600 students) is one of the smallest HBCUs to appear in the 2022 wave; the documentation of its alert response is thinner than larger schools, an archive gap this case partially fills
The 'another college nearby' phrasing in the original threat call is itself an artifact: the caller could not name the second target, suggesting the campaign was geographically generic rather than institutionally specific
Outcome
No explosive devices were found on the Arkansas Baptist campus. The college's lockdown was lifted by approximately noon CST after a coordinated FBI, Little Rock Police Department, and campus security sweep. The threat was part of the [coordinated nationwide HBCU bomb threat wave that targeted at least a dozen schools](https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/01/31/university-bomb-threats-hbcu/) on the first day of Black History Month.
Provenance

Sources

  1. News
    2 Little Rock Historically Black Colleges Receive Bomb Threats (Patch)
    patch.com
  2. News
    Two of Little Rock HBCUs receive bomb threats Tuesday morning (THV11)
    thv11.com
  3. News
    2 historically Black colleges in Arkansas receive bomb threats Tuesday (KATV)
    katv.com
  4. News
    Authorities investigate bomb threats against historically Black colleges in Central Arkansas (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)
    arkansasonline.com
  5. News
    Philander Smith and Arkansas Baptist among several historically Black colleges to receive bomb threats yesterday (Arkansas Times)
    arktimes.com
  6. News
    Arkansas HBCUs receive bomb threats on first day of Black History Month (Axios NW Arkansas)
    axios.com
Tags
bomb-threathbcuarkansas-baptistarkansaslittle-rockblack-history-monthneo-nazi-callerfbi-investigationsmall-hbcucoordinated-threatHoax
Added May 2026Updated May 2026Via ingestion