Hailing from Atlanta, G.A., Omari Foote is a junior journalism major and graphic design minor at Howard University. Foote’s experience at Howard has been nothing short of interesting as she began her journey at Howard at the peak of the coronavirus pandemic. 

“This is my junior year and I feel like it’s my first time feeling like an actual Howard Student. We’re in person, my classes are in person, and clubs and activities are not just on Zoom all day so that’s been great.”

Though Howard was a top choice for Foote, attending the 155-year-old institution comes with its challenges. “I feel like you’re forced to grow up a little bit faster and handle things a little bit earlier than other people are,” says the third-year student. Outside of being an out-of-state student, living in a city with an increasing cost of living, and navigating post-pandemic life, Foote attributes the greatest challenges of being a Howard student to the University’s administrative approach. “The administration oftentimes seems a bit lackluster in their decision making and it seems like the students are an afterthought,” says Foote.

The student leader is committed to making the most out of her experience at the university though, serving on executive boards for several organizations like CASCADE, The Sterling A. Brown English Society and Cover 2 Cover Magazine. With campus moving toward a fully in-person model this academic year, Foote says she gets to school as early as 9 a.m. and leaves toward sundown five days a week. 

As someone who spends a significant amount of time on Howard University’s campus whether in class or contributing to her many organizations, Foote is one of the thousands of students who have experienced bomb threats at their school.

Foote vividly remembers the moment she had heard of the first bomb threat to the university last Spring. “I woke up and all of my family members had been calling and texting me,” she says. “I was honestly a little scared because I had always kind of worried about being at Howard with the way that the political landscape is right now.”

Referring to the polarization between Republicans and Democrats after Donald Trump’s presidency, Foote understands Howard University could be a target. “We’re easy access for white supremacists, so I was worried that first time.“ 

As a student living in on-campus housing at the time, “there was no real way for me [Foote] to evacuate or leave to be out of reach of the bomb.”

Since the onset of the year, 57 Historically Black Colleges and Universities have received bomb threats via phone calls, email, instant messages, and anonymous posts, most of them coming in January and February.

Howard University in particular has experienced eight.

“I’ve grown desensitized to it,” says Foote. “Because this has happened so many times and nothing has happened, I’m not as on alert as I initially was. Now, it kind of feels like people are making empty threats.”

As a student who averages 40 hours a week on campus, Foote insists security becomes a top priority for Howard. “Campus security needs to be more active and pose themselves as more of a threat. “

Nationally, Foote doesn’t “think there's enough regard for black life in general.”

Since launching its investigation in January, the FBI has charged a minor with making dozens of racist threats to HBCUs across the country.

“The type of threats that we’ve seen here, that have victimized you and your institutions, undermine the most basic expectations of safety and security that every American,” said the Bureau’s Deputy Director Paul Abbate to a group of student journalists in November.

Foote hopes the university will present more straightforward security measures for the future. “I haven’t experienced that,” she says. “I think that we need to just get ahead of it because it’s going to happen again in my mind. I don’t doubt that it will.