Howard University protests underscore financial challenges at historically black colleges and universities, scholar notes


LAWRENCE — Student protests and occupation of an administration building at Howard University entered its sixth day Tuesday, with students sticking to a list of demands and reporting some progress in negotiations. Protests carried on through the Easter holiday weekend after an embezzlement scandal at the historically black university. Howard’s faculty senate voiced support for the student demonstration and list of demands, including the resignation of the school’s president.

The situation at the Washington, D.C., university is an unfortunate reminder of the sometimes precarious financial situation at historically black colleges and universities, said Jerry Crawford, a journalism professor at the University of Kansas and Howard alumnus whose research specialty is HBCUs. The fact that the protests center around financial aid funds being mishandled underscores that, as more than 70 percent of students at HBCUs would be unable to go to college without financial aid. Declining federal aid in recent years has caused the shuttering of at least two HBCUs and continues to threaten others.

“Just last year at this time, Howard University celebrated its 150th year of educating the best and brightest of the world’s scholars. Howard has the third-largest enrollment of all HBCUs. The restructuring of the required credit standards for Pell Grants and Parent Loans for Undergraduate Students by the U.S. Department of Education coincides with the decline of enrollment at HBCUs,” Crawford said. “The current protests are really important because so many depend on the funds to complete their dreams. My hope is that the administration and those at all HBCUs will accept responsibility and move forward to improve the transparency of all funding opportunities.”

Crawford holds a doctorate from Howard and master’s degree from fellow HBCU Virginia State University. He is available to speak with media about the situation at Howard, the protests, embezzlement allegations, HBCUs, their financial challenges, the history of the schools and related topics. Crawford has published research on HBCUs.

To schedule an interview, contact Mike Krings at 785-864-8860 or mkrings@ku.edu.

Tue, 04/03/2018

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Mike Krings

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