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The Founder’s Library at Howard University, February 29, 2016, in Washington, DC. Evelyn Hockstein/For The Washington Post via Getty Images
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Embezzlement at Howard is an embarrassment

Anonymous posting on Medium exposed the mismanagement that university had to address

Donovan Dooley
Topics:
Howard Bison HBCU Education Wayne A.I. Frederick

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    10:43 AMTwitter went into a frenzy after records that alleged Howard University financial aid employees embezzled $1 million in financial funding were posted by an anonymous author on Medium this week. The university’s student newspaper, The Hilltop, gave details of how the story received mass attention after a social media post from the student activist group HU Resist.

    Many Howard students were already skeptical of the administration on campus, and this latest news of financial wrongdoing has only increased tensions between administrators and students.

    “I had heard people before saying that money was being embezzled, so this wasn’t the first I had heard of something along these lines,” said Lawrence Dow, a senior sports management student from Philadelphia. “It made me think they figured out something was wrong but wanted to avoid public embarrassment, so they instead tried to keep it as quiet as they could. It made them seem untrustworthy to me.”

    Dow is not alone. As the news broke on Twitter, HU Resist started the #StudentPowerHU movement on the social media platform. Students using the hashtag voiced their displeasure with the university, and some even called for the resignation of Howard president Wayne Frederick.

    https://twitter.com/bribridemming/status/979110571168673793?s=21

    Frederick did release a statement in response to the report that included the dismissal of six employees for “gross misconduct and neglect of duties.” However, even with the president’s statement, students are still unhappy and looking for more transparency between the students and administration. So Frederick issued a second statement after meeting with students Wednesday.

    “I think the strife between students and administrators already existed,” said Dow. “This will probably further exacerbate it, and I would be beyond shocked if there wasn’t protests.”

    HU Resist has already published a list of demands for the administration. But there has been no word if a formal protest has been planned to challenge Frederick’s leadership.

    The name of a former student-employee has surfaced on Twitter as having taken money from the Howard financial aid office. But he has denied any connection to the missing funds.

    This is a story that we will continue to follow as more developments arise.

    Donovan Dooley is a former Rhoden Fellow and a multimedia journalism major from Tuscaloosa, AL. He attends North Carolina Agricultural & Technical University.