UCF, HBCUs nationwide receive threats against Black people on campus

Cristóbal Reyes, Orlando Sentinel on Sep 11, 2025

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ORLANDO, Fla. — University of Central Florida officials are investigating an emailed threat to Black people on campus Thursday amid a wave of similar messages that forced shutdowns at Historically Black Colleges and Universities around the U.S.

The racist and expletive-laden message, an image of which was shared with The Orlando Sentinel, threatened to shoot people at UCF until police arrive. Amanda Sellers, a university spokesperson, said campus operations remain normal but that the UCF Police Department’s threat management team is “actively investigating and working with the FBI.”

“At this time, we do not consider the threat to be credible,” Sellers said in an email. It’s not clear who sent the threat, and the contents of a purported manifesto has not been released.

Bethune-Cookman University in Daytona Beach is among at least eight HBCUs that reportedly received threats to their campuses. In a statement, B-CU announced it canceled its classes and placed the campus on lockdown, with students asked to shelter in place while faculty and staff are to return home. On Thursday afternoon, The Daytona Beach News-Journal reported the presence of bomb-sniffing dogs and other emergency personnel sweeping the area for threats.

By 3:15 p.m., Daytona Beach police lifted the lockdown following an hourlong search, the newspaper reported.

Although it’s unclear whether each campus received similar messages, the threat made against UCF alludes to the video released last week showing the killing of Iryna Zarutska, a Ukrainian refugee brutally stabbed on a train last month in Charlotte, North Carolina.

The image of the threat to the UCF campus, obtained through an anonymous tipster, made mention of a manifesto that has not been released or shared with the Sentinel. The threats also come a day after far-right activist and provocateur Charlie Kirk was assassinated while hosting an on-campus event attended by more than 1,000 people at a university in Utah.

A collective of Black student-led organizations, led by the UCF chapter of the NAACP, issued a statement condemning the threats against UCF and the HBCUs and called for the prosecution of those responsible for sending the messages. In Florida, issuing a written threat of a mass shooting is a second-degree felony that carries a maximum 15-year prison sentence.

“The language and intent of these threats are rooted in white supremacy, racial hatred, and a deliberate attempt to sow fear in Black communities,” the NAACP’s UCF chapter’s statement said. “We are unequivocal: the safety of Black students must never be compromised, and hate-fueled violence has no place on our campuses, in our communities, or in this nation.”

The law school at Florida A&M University, also located in Orlando, decided to shift to remote learning “effective immediately, and to extend through tomorrow” in light of the threats to UCF, according to a message shared with the Sentinel. Campus officials said the university had not received similar threats but is monitoring the situation.

“We stand in solidarity with institutions currently under lockdown or threat and extend our support during this time,” read a statement posted to FAMU’s Facebook page.