Statement from University of Utah Police

[January 11, 2022 | 11:35 am]

University of Utah Police are investigating reports of a bomb threat against our Black Cultural Center this morning (01/11/22) deliberately, but also with urgency, to determine the person or persons responsible and hold them accountable.

Briefly: Early Tuesday morning, a crisis center call line in Hollywood, California received a call alleging a bomb was placed in the cultural center in Fort Douglas.

• Officers immediately responded at 4:25 a.m. with bomb-sniffing dogs and searched the building.
• Officers confirmed that the building was unoccupied, no bomb was found, and the building was secured.
• Because there was no immediate threat to life, the police chief determined a “timely warning” through the campus alert system was not necessary.

Similar threats were made simultaneously against several other universities. This threat against our Black Cultural Center comes only a week after recent bomb scares targeted eight Historically Black Colleges and Universities across the country, and just a week before our country honors the memory and the work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

The University of Utah is not a haven for this kind of hateful and biased thinking and attacks, and university leaders have committed to completing a thorough review with actionable steps to be implemented during the spring semester.

This assault on the security of our Black students, faculty and staff requires sensitivity, compassion and timely action. We will provide more information as it becomes available. The incident was also reported to the Racist & Bias Incident Response Team (RBIRT).