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Campus bombings put Florida A&M University on alert

TAMPA, Fla. - After two bombs detonated in the span of a month, the attention of campus officials state-wide turned toward Florida A&M University.

After a Tallahassee television station received bomb threats that included racial slurs, the traditionally black university had two pipe-bombs explode in restrooms on campus, one in a classroom building and another in the main administration building. Extra precautions have been taken to ensure safety at the university.

According to Sharon Saunders, a university spokeswoman, 50 additional Tallahassee police officers patrolled the campus Thursday. There is also an undisclosed amount of cameras, most of which are hidden out of view. A temporary campus police station was added in the center of campus and will remain open 24 hours a day.

Saunders said these measures will remain in use until a suspect is arrested for both bombings.

The most recent bomb went off Wednesday morning in a first-story men's room in Perry Paige Hall, a classroom building which housed the Navy ROTC unit. According to Eddie Jackson, university spokesman, the bomb caused sections of the ceiling to cave.

The first bomb exploded on Aug. 31 in the first-floor restroom of Lee Hall, one of two administration buildings on the university campus.

According to WTXL-TV, Wednesday's bomb threat included profanity and racist statements.

"FAMU has seen the beginning of this...they got no business having a college where there ain't nobody...smart enough to get a degree...This is just the beginning, brother," the station quoted the caller as saying.

WTXL-TV officials said the caller for the first bomb threat said he wanted to "get rid of" some people, using a racial slur.

In anticipation of another attack, Saunders said the university was attempting to place at least one police officer in all 119 buildings on the 500-acre campus.

"Students also must carry a student ID," Saunders said. "If you don't have an ID card, you get asked to go get one or leave campus."

The university is also cracking down on parking. Employees and students are stopped to have their parking registrations checked. Visitors must get approval before parking on campus.

Also in an effort to catch the bombers, a reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction was upped from $10,000 to $16,000 Thursday.

Tyvi Small, president of the USF Black Student Union, said he has been in contact with people at the university and that his organization plans on doing whatever it can to help students in Tallahassee.

Small said the BSU, the NAACP and other local organizations hope to organize a help effort next week.

"What's happening up there is not civilized," he said. "We are all human and the people doing hate crimes need to be aware of that."

Since a false bomb threat has followed at USF after each explosion, Small said he is concerned about similar activities taking place at USF.

"I don't want anything to happen here," Small said. "But if it happens on the other side of the earth, I am still sad."

Saunders said campus activity Thursday seemed normal. "It seems like business as usual," Saunders said.

Students at the university told the Associated Press that students don't want to cave in to the bombers' desires.

"What they would love for us to do is not to show up," said junior Derrick Heck, the Student Government vice president for the university.

At an information session on the campus library's steps, Heck told fellow students to "let them know that our education cannot be stopped."

Azmar Dunnel, a junior at the university, said he is most concerned at the haphazard bombing pattern seen so far.

"If there is somebody who is serially putting these things around, there's no telling where the next one might go off," he said. "I'm concerned for my safety."

Small said he is disturbed by the bomber's dangerous demonstration of opinions.

"My view is, if I don't like people, I don't associate with them," he said. "You don't have to like FAMU or what they stand for. That's OK, but don't cause violence or try to hurt people. If they don't do anything to you, don't do anything to hurt them. People just haven't arrived mentally yet."