Howard University Students - An Example for Us All
Earlier this year, news broke via an anonymous post on Medium, that university administrators at Howard University embezzled hundreds of thousands of dollars from the university. This launched outrage from the student body, as the financial scandal inflamed the already-present resentment Howard students felt towards the administration in recent years. With continued problems in housing, Title IX violations, and campus conditions, the embezzlement scandal became the tipping point.
On March 9th, led by the student group HU Resist, Howard University students’ began to occupy the administrative building, declaring “We’ll be here as long as it takes to get our demands met”. Those demands included calls for Howard to provide adequate housing, fight rape culture, end tuition hikes, and better their mental health support. After a nine-day occupation, in which Howard University students slept in the building overnight and prepared themselves for the possibility of arrest, the majority of their demands were met. In a statement made by President Frederick, he promised to meet the majority of Howard student’s demands in the form of a sexual assault prevention and pledge campaign, revamping counseling services, and a public safety advisory committee to work with campus police.
This is, in truth, remarkable. Howard students, in their protest, demonstrated an unwavering sense of loyalty towards Howard. They demonstrated they would not let the Mecca of black education crumble to the ground because of greed or corruption. Instead, they demanded that the current administration right their wrongs, and continue to provide a world-class experience that has shaped entire generations before them, and now, entire generations after them. Howard students have illustrated their tireless commitment to hold their university to the absolute highest standards before. In 2015, when campus conditions were deteriorating and financial aid was decreasing Howard students launched a viral social media campaign. Fifty years ago, in 1968, when Howard’s president continuously attempted to scrub clean Howard’s black history, students occupied the very same building they did in 2018.
Howard University is more than its current administration at any given time. Howard University is its students. The same students who come from a variety of backgrounds and cultures who come together to create an environment that is completely unique to Howard. The scandals Howard faces dominated the headlines, but it is the students’ unwavering commitment to excellence that will be remembered.
Faisal Amin is a director and practice leader of Berkeley Research Group's (BRG) Higher Education Strategy practice. BRG experts work with some of the nation’s leading higher education institutions to help continue their traditions of extraordinary achievement by consistently attaining market-leading levels of strategic financial and operational performance.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions, position, or policy of Berkeley Research Group, LLC or its other employees and affiliates.