Campus Alert Archive
UDC

DC's Only Public HBCU Joins Black History Month Threat Wave: Threat Called In at 3:20 AM, All-Clear at 7:25 AM

DCbomb 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 — the first day of Black History Month — the University of the District of Columbia received a bomb threat at approximately 3:20 AM EST against its Van Ness campus. The university and Metropolitan Police Department swept the campus and issued an all-clear at 7:25 AM EST the same morning. UDC was one of at least 13 HBCUs targeted on February 1, 2022, alongside Howard, Morgan State, Spelman, Kentucky State, and others.

Alerts
2
Response
—
Killed
0
Injured
0
Institution
University of the District of Columbia
Hbcu · DC
~4,000 studentsUDC Public Safety
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 ALERTEmail
Approximate reconstruction363 chars
UDC Public Safety Alert: A bomb threat has been reported on the Van Ness campus. Out of an abundance of caution, all students, faculty, and staff are advised to shelter in place or remain off campus until further notice. The Metropolitan Police Department and the University Office of Public Safety and Emergency Management are investigating. Updates will follow.

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

The threat call came in at approximately 3:20 AM EST against the Van Ness campus in Northwest DC, the main UDC campus
Van Ness sits in a residential neighborhood near the Connecticut Avenue corridor; the WMATA Van Ness/UDC Red Line station is at the campus edge
UDC's bomb threat came on the same morning that Howard University and Morgan State University were targeted, part of a coordinated wave on the first day of Black History Month
ALL CLEAREmail
Approximate reconstructionReconstructed from UDC press communication paraphrased by Patch, WTOP, and Fox 5 DC308 chars
UDC Public Safety Alert: All Clear. The University Office of Public Safety and Emergency Management and the Metropolitan Police Department have issued an all clear at 7:25 a.m. in the investigation of a bomb threat made at approximately 3:20 a.m. on the Van Ness campus. Campus has resumed normal operations.

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

MPD and UDC Public Safety completed the campus sweep in approximately 4 hours and 5 minutes
The official UDC press post (since taken down or returning HTTP 403) was titled 'UDC Campus All Clear 2-1-22' at udc.edu/2022/02/01/udc-campus-all-clear-2-1-22/
UDC's response was notably faster than Howard's, where the all-clear was not issued until later in the morning
Context

Background

On the first day of Black History Month 2022, the University of the District of Columbia — DC's only public HBCU and the nation's only urban land-grant HBCU — received a bomb threat at its Van Ness campus at approximately 3:20 AM EST on February 1, 2022. The Metropolitan Police Department and UDC's Office of Public Safety and Emergency Management swept the campus and issued an all-clear at 7:25 AM EST. UDC was one of at least 13 HBCUs targeted that day, and Howard University was also placed in shelter-in-place the same morning. The February 1 threats followed a January 31 round that had targeted six HBCUs including Howard, Bowie State, and Delaware State. UDC's incident is notable because the campus sits on Connecticut Avenue in the heart of Northwest DC's diplomatic and residential corridor — a high-profile location whose disruption affected commuters and Metro riders on the Red Line. The FBI later identified six juveniles as persons of interest in the coordinated wave of threats that targeted more than 50 HBCUs between January and February 2022. UDC's commuter-college demographics meant the early-morning threat caught most students at home rather than on campus — a structural difference from residential HBCUs that fundamentally changed the shelter-in-place dynamic.
Analysis

Key Findings

UDC's response time of approximately 4 hours from threat to all-clear was among the fastest in the February 1 wave, possibly aided by the commuter campus's small physical footprint
As a commuter campus with no traditional residence halls on the Van Ness main campus, UDC's 'shelter in place' guidance functioned more as a 'do not come to campus' directive than a traditional dorm-based lockdown
UDC's joint response with the Metropolitan Police Department reflected DC's tight jurisdictional integration; institutions in standalone municipalities required FBI activation for similar coordination
The threat targeted what is simultaneously DC's only public HBCU, its only land-grant institution, and its only urban land-grant institution — a triple-vulnerable identity that made it a high-symbol target
Outcome
No explosive device was found. Campus resumed normal operations the same day. The FBI investigated the threats as hate crimes and identified six juveniles as persons of interest in a coordinated wave of HBCU bomb threats.
Provenance

Sources

  1. News
    Howard, Morgan State, UDC targeted in new round of bomb threats against local HBCUs (WTOP)
    wtop.com
  2. News
    New Bomb Threats Called Into Howard University, UDC (Washington DC Patch)
    patch.com
  3. News
    Bomb Threats Target Howard, Morgan State Universities (NBC4 Washington)
    nbcwashington.com
  4. News
    HBCU bomb threats investigated at DC, Baltimore universities (Fox 5 DC)
    fox5dc.com
  5. national media
    FBI identifies 6 juveniles as persons of interest in bomb threats at Black colleges (NBC News)
    nbcnews.com
  6. national media
    FBI reports at least 57 bomb threats at HBCUs, other institutions since January (Washington Post)
    washingtonpost.com
  7. reference
    University of the District of Columbia (Wikipedia)
    en.wikipedia.org
Tags
bomb-threathbcuwashington-dcudcblack-history-month-2022coordinated-wavecommuter-campusland-grant-hbcufalse-alarmHoax
Added May 2026Updated May 2026Via ingestion