
Embezzlement at Howard is an embarrassment
Anonymous posting on Medium exposed the mismanagement that university had to address
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.
The long held suspicions that our university is stealing money from us have been confirmed. We deserve better. We demand better. It time to take back our university #StudentPowerHU#FrederickMustResign
— #StudentPowerHU (@HUResist) March 28, 2018
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
Because Howard wanted to embezzle financial aid money, I’m $34k in debt & I’ve only been at this school two semesters…..Howard I just wanna talk 🗣🗣 #StudentPowerHU #frederickmustresign
— L 💋 (@mountaindewbs) March 28, 2018
In the morning, @HowardU will lie and deny and blame and do anything to avoid the truth. Don’t let them get away with this. Hold them accountable. The numbers don’t add up. #FrederickMustResign #HadleyMustGo
— #FrederickMustResign (@veritas1867) March 28, 2018
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.
BREAKING UPDATE: @HUPrez17 releases statement in response to anonymous authored Medium post alleging Howard University financial aid employees stole $1 million dollars in financial aid funding. pic.twitter.com/LwrQYiSUet
— The Hilltop (@TheHilltopHU) March 28, 2018
“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.
In the words of Frederick Douglass, "power concedes nothing without a demand." These are our demands. #StudentPowerHU pic.twitter.com/pnFOefF2KM
— #StudentPowerHU (@HUResist) March 26, 2018
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.
New rule aimed at eliminating lowering of head to make contact could change the way football is played
The wording of the rule will be finalized later this offseason
6:44 PMThe rules changes coming out of the NFL owners’ meetings in Orlando, Florida, are aimed at addressing a few of the league’s most controversial issues from recent seasons. Commissioner Roger Goodell on Wednesday discussed catch rule adjustments that we all knew were coming, and most fans believe are overdue. The hope is that simplifying criteria for a catch will lead to less ambiguity and fewer Monday morning controversies.
Those alterations will have a substantial impact on the game, but the impact will be minor compared with the potential effect of a rule meant to eliminate lowering of the helmet to initiate contact for any player. The penalty for violators can range from 15 yards to ejection or even suspension. Depending on the wording of the rule, which will be finalized later this offseason, it could completely change how football is played. But it also might ensure that the NFL football will continue to be played for decades to come.

Andy Reid on diversity in coaching: Just do the right thing
Kansas City coach has the league’s only black offensive coordinator, Eric Bieniemy, on his staff
6:20 PMORLANDO, Florida — During the Super Bowl, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell acknowledged that the NFL has too few coaches of color in the pipeline on offense. That’s a problem during an era in which owners prefer to pick from that side of the ball to fill openings.
“The trend now is offensive coaches,” Goodell said.
And Eric Bieniemy of the Kansas City Chiefs is the league’s only African-American offensive coordinator. So how can the gap be bridged?
Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid has some thoughts. Reid was recently honored by the Fritz Pollard Alliance, the group that helps the NFL oversee compliance with the Rooney Rule, for his contributions to furthering opportunities for candidates of color in coaching, front-office and scouting roles.
The answer to improving diversity in the ranks on offense, and coaching in general, is simple: Just do the right thing.
“I’m into good coaches,” Reid said. “I don’t get caught up in all the color. I don’t do all that. I can’t speak for other people on that. I talk to everybody. When you see me at the Senior Bowl, I’ve always got people coming up [to me] and I talk to ’em. Young guys. I don’t care what color they are, let’s talk some ball.
“As long as a guy loves ball, he’s got aptitude and is willing to work, I’m all in on him, man. And that’s what Eric Bieniemy is. That’s what I like. Just open your heart, man. Do what’s best for the game. I don’t care what color you are. Do what’s best for the game.”
Under Reid, Bieniemy is in a good spot. And that’s a big part of it, Cleveland Browns head coach Hue Jackson said.
“Eric Bieniemy is with Andy Reid, who’s definitely about diversity and about giving guys opportunities,” said Jackson, one of the NFL’s seven African-American head coaches. “There’s a lot of head coaches that feel that way too. But you have to be in the right situation at the right time.”

Off-White founder Virgil Abloh named artistic director of men’s wear at Louis Vuitton
The Illinois-born son of Ghanaian immigrants is noted for his ‘fascination with irony, with memes, and with context’
6:56 AMThe news broke just a few moments after midnight on March 26. Virgil Abloh, founder (in 2014) of the upscale street wear label Off-White, and a former creative director for Kanye West, is the new artistic director of men’s wear at Louis Vuitton. Vuitton, a staple of fashionistas around the world, is according to The New York Times, “one of the oldest and most powerful European houses in the luxury business.”
Known for a relentless work ethic, and his deep influence within the style world, Abloh is at the cutting edge of global fashion. His collaborations alone — Nike, Vans, and Levi’s among them — seem never to be not trending, whether on Instagram, or on the glossy pages of magazines. His portfolio also includes an upcoming project with Ikea, and a retrospective of his work at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. The Illinois-born son of Ghanian immigrants, Abloh is noted for his “fascination with irony, with memes and with context.”
Abloh, who has an undergraduate civil engineering degree and a master’s in architecture, is Vuitton’s first African-American artistic director. He’s in a rare but rising space for black designers: Olivier Rousteing is currently creative director of Balmain, and Ozwald Boateng was designer for Givenchy men’s 2003-07. Vuitton though, from its classic monogram to its brightest and most whimsical eras, is Vuitton.
The house captures imaginations, whether they be on relaxing on the decks of yachts or the standing in a subway platform. At a panel a few years ago, Abloh said, “My motivation is, in part, a bit of angst that comes from feeling like I don’t belong; that our generation doesn’t belong. I made a conscious decision that I wasn’t just going to be a consumer; that at least one of us would appear at the end of a Parisian runway.” Talk about speaking it into existence.