Volume 103, Issue 21
The Hilltop
Thursday, April 19, 2018
The Student Voice of Howard University thehilltoponline.com
bl(activism) con saturday, april 21 12-5 PM Howard University Interdisciplinary Research Building RSVP: blactivism.splashthat.com
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The Hilltop Staff Jazmin Goodwin, Editor-in-Chief EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT: Almani Jackson, Business Manager Shai Vaz, Assistant Business Manager Brittany Read, Executive Operations Manager Jerry Augustin, Sales Account Executive CREATIVE DEPARTMENT: Oluwatobi Oladejo, Creative Content Director Tiffany Hunt, Creative Content Assistant Lesley M. Pierrot, Layout Editor EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT: Kimberly Nnorom, Senior Copy Editor Justin Cohen, Assistant Copy Editor Kesi Felton, News Editor Clarice Metzger, Life+Style Editor Lawrence Dow, Sports Editor Brianna Sims, Assistant Sports Editor
April 19, 2018
CAMPUS #WAKANDAFOREVER:
Black Panther Star, Chadwick Boseman Announced as 2018 Commencement Speaker Award-winning actor and Howard University alumnus Chadwick Boseman will be the commencement speaker for Howard’s 150th Commencement Convocation on Saturday, May 12, 2018, President Frederick announced yesterday. Boseman, who graduated from Howard with a bachelor of fine arts and also attended the British American Drama Academy in Oxford, England, has had iconic roles on the big screen, including baseball player Jackie Robinson in “42,” soul singer James Brown in “Get on Up,” and Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall in “Marshall.” His latest starring role, as T’Challa/Black Panther in the record-shattering superhero movie “Black
Panther,” has made the already popular actor a household name. “Black Panther,” directed by Ryan Coogler, has grossed more than $1.2 billion since its release in February. Boseman, a native of South Carolina, is not only an actor but also a writer and director. The university will confer upon Boseman its highest honor, an honorary degree, Doctor of Humane Letters. In the midst of all the hype about “Black Panther,” some on social media jokingly compared the Mecca to the movie’s fictional African nation of Wakanda. In that way, Boseman’s selection as the orator for the Class of 2018 seems fitting.
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: eic@thehilltoponline.com NEWS: news@thehilltoponline.com LIFE+STYLE: lifestyle@thehilltoponline.com SPORTS: sports@thehilltoponline.com HIRING: hiring@thehilltoponline.com BUSINESS: business@thehilltoponline.com ADVERTISING: adsales@thehilltoponline.com The Hilltop Newspaper Office 2401 4th Street NW, 62B Washington, D.C. 20059 Phone Number: (202) 806-4749 For Zora. For Howard. For You. Est. 1924.
“I’m excited to return to the Mecca in celebration of the achievements of our illustrious students,” said Boseman. “Let’s listen, learn and build with one another.”
to be black. to take action. to be an activist. #bl(activism)con18 thehilltoponline.com
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CAMPUS
April 19, 2018
The Past That Made Our Present: Howard Community Divided Over Protests, Students Seize Administration Building For The Eighth Day, Make Howard History As Longest Student Occupation By: Jazmin Goodwin, Editor-In-Chief (@TheCozyJAZ) “Reprinted from The Hilltop’s online coverage of the historic student protest. For more stories, go to thehilltoponline.com.”
Where there were once long financial aid lines, the aroma of coffee drifting from the ground floor and spacious offices for the university’s top administration, student protesters continue to stand in defiance of administrators for the eighth straight day of occupation. They have effectively renamed the Mordecai Wyatt Johnson Administration Building the “Kwame Ture Student Center,” thanks to a large-scale banner covering the space’s official name.
Student organizers said that one demand—adequate housing for students—has been met, and that they have reached “somewhat of an agreement” on seven others. Remaining demands include a tuition freeze, progress on handling of sexual assault cases and other issues. But perhaps the biggest remaining stumbling blocks are demands for the resignation of Howard University President Frederick and the entire Board of Trustees.
Currently, close to 300 students fill the building. They take shifts serving food, organizing the food pantry, guarding the entrance and keeping the space clean and open for first aid needs and medics. Floors are categorized by quiet, femme only, and an open space for LGBTQ identifiers, ensuring that no one is excluded by gender.
“They’re non-negotiable,” said Imani K. Bryant of HU Resist. “We believe that in order to change this university institutionally and systematically, there needs to be increased student power, and the president needs to resign because he has done things that are detrimental to the function of this university.”
Many protesters say the occupation has created the first safe space they’ve experienced at Howard University, a testament to the depth of their f rustration and the goal of their fight. For them, it goes beyond a list of demands. For them, the very future of Howard University is at stake. “I am doing it honestly for the students who can’t even be here,” said Deanna Esan sophomore, biology major from Laurel, Maryland. “The fact of the matter is, there are students that are going to class sick, tired, hungry, depressed and can’t keep up with any of the sociopolitical economic causes at Howard. To be able to be here for those people is an honor and a blessing.” Her words carry echoes of the past. In 1968, more than 1,000 students staged a demonstration in the Administration building for four days, leaving only after their demands were met. In 1989, more than 2,000 students seized the building, carrying with them their own list of demands. This spring, #StudentPowerHU embodies that same spirit. A movement by HU Resist student organizers, #StudentPowerHU symbolizes the push forward students feel Howard University needs. Their bigger mission of occupying the space for the long haul— until all of their eight remaining demands are met. Student organizers and protesters, alongside the 57th Administration of Howard University’s Student Government Association, have been negotiating with the Board of Trustees since March 30.
Categories for each floor in the Administration building. (Photo/ Nancy Vu, The Hilltop)
Bryant said the students understand the need to be flexible. “When we came in here, we knew that there would have to be some compromises made on some of our demands,” he said. “The Trustees have been receptive to most of our demands, and we have made compromises.” As students continue to stand resolute in their call for the resignations, which would entail the appointment of a new president as well as a new Board, many are finding strength by looking to the past that hopefully, with the changes they make in transparency, student influence and administrative affairs, it’ll prevent the need for another occupation of the Administration building. “I think a lot of the reason that we were empowered to protest now is because that we saw that it did work in the past,” said Alexis Grady, sophomore political science major from Philadelphia, PA. “For it to be working again, for us to be getting some of the demands met, or even any change that we see, I think it will show students that activism works, and that it’s important to be on the ground, and it’s important to make your voice heard,” In the days following the takeover on March 29, members of the Howard University community have aligned either with students of HU Resist and those occupying the administration building or in support of President Frederick and the Board of Trustees. Division and friction continue, though the parties involved (see list below) maintain they “bleed blue” and remain dedicated to “truth and service,” both references to the university’s motto and history.
Students paste large banner that reads Kwame Ture Student Center over The Mordecai Wyatt Johnson Administration Building. (Photo/Jazmin Goodwin, The Hilltop)
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April 19, 2018
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CAMPUS
The Longest Student Sit-In in Howard University’s History Comes To An End By Jazmin Goodwin and Autumn Dalton, Howard University News Service “Reprinted from The Hilltop’s online coverage of the historic student protest. For more stories, go to thehilltoponline.com.”
After nine days of occupying Howard University's administration building, student protesters ended their sit-in after administrators and student organizers agreed on a way forward for some of the students. A press conference was held by the university’s board of trustees to share a statement of commitments to the Howard University community that included some of the demands that #HUResist wanted when they took over the building at the end of March. Board of Trustees Chairman, Stacey J. Mobley released a statement letter to the Howard University community affirming the end of the nine day sit-in and next steps. “As all of us are aware, Howard University has a long history of healthy debate and discourse on our campus and it’s a tradition we fully support. We want to continue to encourage dialogue and we are committed to providing a safe space for all voices to feel comfortable to speak freely,” Mobley stated in the statement. Earlier in the day, #HUResist posted to Twitter saying they would no longer call for the resignation of President Frederick and the Board of Trustees, two demands that they first said were non-negotiable. Prior to the announcement, #HUResist alongside the 57th Administration of Howard University’s Student Government Association were in negotiations with the Board of Trustees since March 30. The student sit-in followed the announcement of accusations of financial aid embezzlement with the University were revealed in an Medium post (since been deleted) by the author of the name of “Veritas 1867” on the evening of March 27. The following day on March 28, the revelations were confirmed by President Wayne Frederick through a statement to the University of some of the claims and his prior knowledge of the embezzlement.
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April 19, 2018
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EDITORIAL
April 19, 2018
Student Activism Then and Now: Looking Back at 1968 “A Building” Takeover By: Pearl Stewart, (Editor-In-Chief 1970-1971) So much has changed while so much remains the same. As I read several faded and frayed issues of The Hilltop from fall of 1967 through spring 1971 to refresh my memory of those turbulent years, stark differences and some interesting similarities became clear. As a freshman reporter, I covered the 1968 A Building takeover from inside, interviewing the students who spent four days occupying the building. I was in an odd position covering the event. I also had been assigned to cover the Charter Day protest a few weeks earlier, where students interrupted the ceremony to make demands that had previously been ignored by President James Nabrit and the administration.
James Nabrit remained until 1969, retiring instead of resigning immediately as the students had demanded. Many of the protest leaders played an active role in the search for a new president, presenting a list of 11 criteria to the Board of Trustees. And Howard began its journey toward becoming the black university that the protesters sought. In fact, I graduated in 1971 with a major in Afro-American Studies and a journalism minor. Fifty years later, the struggle continues. As Frederick Douglass said, “If there is no struggle there is no progress. . . Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.”
I unwittingly became one of the students threatened with expulsion for disrupting the program. As I covered Charter Day, notebook and pen in hand, I approached the stage in an effort to hear what was being said after the sound system was shut down to prevent the protesters from being heard. So I became a “disrupter,” but I continued to write for The Hilltop. When 1,000 students began the occupation of the A Building on March 19, it wasn’t reported in The Hilltop until March 22, 1968. The Hilltop was weekly so only one edition of the paper came out during the four-day event. No computers, no internet, no cell phones, no social media – and yet the organizers through word of mouth, local radio and TV coverage, managed to get a thousand students to participate and hundreds more to support the takeover. One of the successful demands was the reinstatement of the 39 students who had received expulsion letters and another was that Howard would offer black studies in the curriculum. Some other demands, such as those regarding resignation of university leadership and more involvement by students in university decisions, were similar to those of today’s protesters. What hasn’t changed one bit is that students need to be respected not only as important stakeholders, but as the most essential members of the university community. Another similarity I noticed is that some local and national media attempted to trivialize the protest by focusing on the songs and chants instead of the significance of the demands. One difference between the two protests is that in 1968 the students literally took over. They took command of the university switchboard with a few young women who had held jobs as switchboard operators giving quick on-the- job training to other students, so that they controlled the switchboard, and thus the incoming and outgoing communications. In 1968 there was an outpouring of support locally and nationally, as published in the March 22, 1968 Hilltop: “The students at Howard have received support from the alumni association, all civil rights organizations, black student associations from such places as American University, Harvard University, George Washington University and Morgan State. Faculty members at Howard have also voiced their support. The dormitories are being kept open by students and we intend to achieve the goal of a black democratic university.” Additionally, a separate Hilltop article contained a “partial list” of people and groups backing the protest: Dr. Martin Luther King (who would be assassinated the next month), SCLC, SNCC, Dick Gregory, Stokely Carmichael, students from Georgetown University, Rutgers, CCNY, the University of Wisconsin and the University of Colorado, among others. One local media report stated that 50 white students from American University “camped-in in sympathy” and joined the chanting and singing. A contingent of students from Central State, an HBCU in Ohio, traveled to DC to join the protest. More protests were organized the following year. During 1969-70, students boycotted Howard’s law school and med school. The College of Fine Arts was also hit with protests. All of these actions brought about major changes, although perhaps not enough, because more demands and shutdowns would come in later years. One important aspect of the 1968 demonstration was that although it was generally successful, the execution of the changes was a lengthy process that culminated two years later in the inauguration of James Cheek as president. thehilltoponline.com
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April 19, 2018
ARE YOU DONE?
Not until you complete the GSES! (ALL HU Graduating
UNDERGRADUATE
& GRADUATE/ GRADUATING STUDENT PROFESSIONAL EXIT SURVEYS Students) (GSES) 2018
BEGINNING APRIL 11, 2018
Look for an Email from The OFFICE OF THE PROVOST
Contribute to Howard University’s Continuous Improvement We value and USE your feedback.
Office of Institutional Assessment & Evaluation (OIAE) thehilltoponline.com
(OIAE assessment@howard.edu )
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EDITORIAL
April 19, 2018
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR: The First-Ever Bl(activism) Con “To be black. To take action. To be an activist.” At Howard University’s core is a foundation rooted in activism and advocacy for the issues that matter. In respect to the The Hilltop, activism has permeated throughout our newsroom since my inheritance of this role for the 2017-2018 school year. As the student voice of Howard University, it has been our utmost priority to not only provide transparency through our news coverage but also through functions and operations. In October, we took a stand of our own with our “What Would You Do Without The Hilltop?” Issue and #WWYDHU social media campaign. It was imperative we made clear our critical need of resources, respect and reciprocity. We wanted to set a precedent for change. We wanted to prompt action and the question of “what would you do without The Hilltop and what are you going to do to keep it alive?” This prompt of action and questioning is a direct parallel to that of Howard University in terms of its future and legacy. Taking that into consideration, The Hilltop will be holding its first ever social justice conference “bl(activism) in conjunction with The Poynter Institute, the world’s leading instructor, innovator, convener and resource for anyone who aspires to engage and inform citizens in 21st century democracies. We want to make it clear that taking a stand for what you deserve is the “Howard Way” and no true protest or activism can be successful without seeing it through. The conference will highlight activism and social justice movements over the past 50 years and address how their face has changed today, specifically the influence of social media on such movements. With speakers including activists active as far back as 1968 as well as current student activists, the conference seeks to merge different perspectives on social justice issues and organizing as a whole in an effort to bridge the generational gap. As editor-in-chief and principal organizer of this event, my mission is to increase civil discourse about the evolution of student protesting and activism which is very near to our university and very relevant today. What does it mean to be black in the scope of activism? Is it different then versus now? Through the conference I hope to empower our community and the youth through information and knowledge of those who are doing it and committed to it. For Zora. For Howard. For You. Jazmin Goodwin, Editor-In-Chief
bl(activism) con saturday, april 21 12-5 PM Howard University Interdisciplinary Research Building RSVP: blactivism.splashthat.com thehilltoponline.com
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April 19, 2018
thehilltoponline.com
A History of
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April 19, 2018
March 19, 1968
Over 1,000 Howard University students take over Administration building to protest the dropping of charges against 39 students who protested three weeks earlier at Howard University’s centennial Charter Day celebration. Students also called for other demands to be met that included President Nabrit’s resignation; a judiciary system for student discipline and an emphasis on African-American history and culture in the curriculum.
March 3, 1989
Hundreds of Howard University students take over Administration building in protest of the appointment of Republican National Committee chairman Lee Atwater as a trustee of the school. In addition to his resignation, students demanded improved housing conditions and the addition of more African-American studies to the curriculum.
March 23, 1968
Howard University students end four-day takeover of Administration building. The demands that were met included charges dropped against the 39 students involved in the Charter Day protests; the student judiciary committee, and the following year, a seminar called “Toward a Black University” would be held at Howard and other black colleges to discuss curricula at the school. Nabrit didn’t resign, but planned to retire at the end of following school year.
April 5, 1968
Howard University students mourn and protest death of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in front of Douglass Hall.
At Howard Unive thehilltoponline.com
Bl(activism) PAGE 11
April 19, 2018
March 9, 1989
Administration building takeover ends with the signing of a covenant on eight demands following negotiations that involved Jesse L. Jackson and Mayor Marion Barry.
March 29, 2018
Student protesters and organizers of HU Resist hold rally followed by #StudentPowerHU takeover of Administration building.
April 6, 2018
#StudentPowerHU sit-in ends with all demands met except for the resignation of President Wayne A.I. Frederick and the Board of Trustees.
August 14, 2014
Hundreds of Howard University students stand with their arms raised and palms extended in the viral #HandsUpDontShoot photograph in response to the fatal police shooting of unarmed teenager Michael Brown.
September 4, 2015
Students stage peaceful protest #TakeBackHU in Administration building writing concerns about financial aid, housing, unreliable wifi and a host of other issues on sticky notes pasted onto columns.
ersity (1968-2018) thehilltoponline.com
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April 19, 2018
THE HILLTOP IS ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS FOR: Editor in Chief & Business manager .
DOWNLOAD APPLICATION AT THEHILLTOPONLINE.COM OR CALL 202-806-4749 thehilltoponline.com
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April 19, 2018
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Celebration of Women in Activism APRIL REIGN
April 19, 2018
BLAIR IMANI
As the Creator of the viral hashtag #OscarsSoWhite, April Reign challenges the lack of representation of marginalized communities in Hollywood and beyond. Reign sustains a movement that has resulted in the most systemic change ever seen in the over 80-year history of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Blair Imani is an author and activist based in Brooklyn, NY. Blair is the founder and Executive Director of Equality for HER, a nonprofit educational platform for women and nonbinary people. In the summer 2017, Blair Imani shattered stereotypes when she came out on national television as a queer Muslim woman.
Join us at bl(activism) con on Saturday, April 21 to hear these women’s thoughts on activism and culture.
#blactivismcon18 thehilltoponline.com
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April 19, 2018
PHOTO RECAP: #StudentPowerHU Photos by: Feranami Quadri & Oluwatobi Oladejo For more scenes from the sit-in, see pgs. 16-17
BUT IF I’M NOT, WHO WILL? Being a caregiver takes a special kind of commitment. We know your strength is super, but you’re still human.
F I N D S U P P O R T F O R Y O U R S T R E N G T H. thehilltoponline.com
A A R P. O R G / C A R E G I V I N G 1 - 8 7 7 - 3 3 3 - 5 8 8 5
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April 19, 2018
CAMPUS Campus Speakout: Do You Think the Student Sit-In Was Successful?
Name: Ashley Tousana Classification: Freshman Major: Interdisciplinary Studies Hometown: Atlanta, Georgia
Name: Cayla Taylor Classification: Sophmore Major: Health Science Hometown: Atlanta, Georgia
Name: Essence Jade Classification: Freshman Major: Biology Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
“I feel like it was successful for the president of the university. Though the students efforts were commendable, the president and the trustees were in total control of the situation.”
“I believe the sit-in had some successful parts, it brought a lot of people together in the Howard community. However, the demands that they were trying to push for weren’t really realistic. I feel like the way they went about it kind of disrupted the administration activities and I get that that was the point, but I feel if all of the demands weren’t met, we shouldn’t have left.”
“I believe the sit-in was semi-successful, as changes were promised. Seeing as these issues have lasted for a multitude of years, however, I’ll believe it when I see it.”
Name: Kayla McSwain Classification: Freshman Major: Marketing Hometown: Snow Camp, North Carolina
Name: Maurice Henderson Classification: Freshman Major: Biology Hometown: Chicago, Illinois
Name: Taryn Wilkins Classification: Freshman Major: Biology Hometown: New Jersey
“It gave students a chance to see what Howard could be like if administration was more transparent.”
“To an extent the sit-in was successful, because they got some of the demands met that they asked for. I also think it was successful because it gave students a voice and made people respect the students and how they feel.”
“No, because all they did was establish task forces for most of the demands. There was no real initiative [that] was put into place, just empty gestures.”
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