Morgan State University responded to a general bomb threat on Wednesday that the police department later investigated and deemed unsubstantial. 

According to Lance Hatcher, Morgan State Police Department (MSUPD) police chief, the university received a bomb threat at 11 a.m. that did not specifically name Morgan, but threatened bombs on college campuses.

Although the threat wasn’t directed to Morgan, President David Wilson said the university still took proper precautions on campus.

“[Hatcher} informed me that a call had come into Morgan and that it was not specific to Morgan, but in an essence referenced bombs on campuses,” said Wilson. “And so, not knowing what that meant, we took precaution and the university police started to immediately walk to campus to look for any suspicious items or people.”

Local and federal law enforcement were later informed of the matter and continued the investigation. 

After MSUPD evaluated the campus’ safety within two hours of the threat, the university remained open and continued all operations.

Wilson said, “We discussed whether we would shut down operations, but because this was not a threat that was specific to Morgan, we decided not to do that.”

Now that Morgan has responded to two potential threats in a month, the search committee was prepared for an active search across campus.

“We just have to know how to look at the campus and make sure that nothing has been planted on the campus that will harm individuals and to do it in the most expeditious way possible so we don’t continually cause severe disruption to our activities,” Wilson said.

Hatcher refrained from sharing more information due to the ongoing investigation. 

“Moving forward, the University will continue to assess the risk associated with these threats as they are received. We ask our Morgan community to remain mindful and alert, and if you see something suspicious, please notify MSUPD,” the Office of Public Relations and Communications said in a university announcement.

The month of February both started and will end with repeated bomb threats to historically black colleges and universities. Over 20 HBCUs received threats to their campuses this month with Hampton University and Clark Atlanta University on top of the list this past Wednesday.