SPRINGFIELD, OH — Two colleges in Springfield, Ohio are moving to remote classes this week following threats of violence.
Wittenberg University and Clark State College are the latest forced to shutdown in a series of threats connected to debunked claims of Haitian immigrants. The claims about immigrants in the community stealing and eating pets were pushed into the national spotlight last week by former President Trump and his running mate, Ohio Senator JD Vance. Multiple city and state officials, including Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, have claimed the allegations of Haitians eating pets are false.
“There’s a lot of garbage on the internet and this is a piece of garbage that was simply not true, there’s no evidence of this at all,” DeWine told ABC’s “This Week.” “These are positive influences on our community in Springfield and any comment about that otherwise I think is hurtful and is not helpful to the city of Springfield and the people of Springfield.”
Last week, City Hall, three elementary schools and a middle school had to close due to receiving threats. Two hospitals went into lockdown Saturday following bomb threats.
