A Texas Baptist university evacuated its campus Jan. 22 in response to an unverified threat as Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson and U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner were to appear on campus.
By late afternoon Thursday, an all-clear was issued and students, faculty and staff were allowed to return to the Southwest Dallas campus.
Scott Turner
University officials called the threats “unverified” but said they decided to cancel classes and evacuate the campus out of an abundance of caution. After investigation by local police and the FBI, no active threats were identified, and the all-clear was issued.
DBU’s campus architecture has an early American theme, and its chapel — named in memory of donor Bo Pilgrim — is an enlarged replica of the First Baptist Church in America, located in Providence, R.I. Its school mascot is the Patriot.
Turner was to give remarks at 9:30 a.m. at the HUD Center for Faith’s Opportunity Zones Summit. HUD officials said his talk would have focused on how faith-based organizations could help “vulnerable Americans achieve economic prosperity” by investing in “Opportunity Zones,” or economically distressed communities.
Johnson, who was elected mayor twice as a Democrat but changed his party affiliation to Republican soon after reelection, was to speak about public-private partnerships and uplifting underserved communities.
Turner, a former staff pastor at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Texas, received an honorary doctorate from DBU in 2016.