A group of Howard University students is calling on the university to take a stronger stand against President Trump and some of his policies. In a meeting on Wednesday morning, university president Wayne A.I. Frederick countered their demands by raising his own concerns about the ongoing financial stability of the university. The discrepancy between students and the administration speaks to a broader divide in how the HBCU community perceives the Trump presidency.
The student group, calling themselves Concerned Students, 1867 challenged the university administration in a series of rallies and town hall meetings that took place on Monday and Tuesday. They also attempted to present their concerns in person at the Mordecai Johnson administration building.
Concerned Students, 1867 refers to the year Howard was founded and also pays tribute to the University of Missouri student group, Concerned Student 1950, that led protests ultimately leading to the resignation of the president of the UM system and the chancellor of the system’s flagship Columbia campus.
In a town hall meeting on Tuesday night, students expressed disappointment that the administration of the nation’s flagship historically Black university had not done more to put itself at the frontline of resistance to the new administration.
Juan Demetrixx, a senior and student organizer, asked students gathered in the Andrew Rankin Memorial Chapel whether they thought Howard was living up to its reputation. “Howard is supposed to be the staple of Black liberation, correct?” he said.
“We’re sold a dream of Howard being a pioneering institution for social justice and Black liberation and Black empowerment and when we get here, the administration and Howard as an institution is almost in opposition to all of those things,” Durmerick Ross, an organizer and Howard freshman, told Diverse on Wednesday.
The student discontent comes in the wake of Betsy DeVos’ first visit as Secretary of Education to Howard last Thursday, where she met with the president and student leaders. DeVos’ visit, touted as a success by Frederick in official statements, was nevertheless met with some skepticism on campus.
