Howard University Students End Nine Days of Protests After Lengthy Negotiations with Campus Officials
Student protestors at Howard University ended their nine-day sit-in demonstration on Friday, at the university’s administration building, after achieving a settlement with the university’s officials.
In a joint news conference late Friday afternoon, student leaders and campus administrators publicized the “statement of commitment” both parties agreed upon.
Seven out of the nine initial stipulations demanded by the student demonstrators were addressed in the press conference, as reported by WTOP. The arrangement promises that students will have not only be proactively involved in evaluating the adequacy of student housing, they will also influence who will be selected as the student ombudsperson.
In addition, The Washington Post outlines that university administrators affirmed that they will establish a task force dedicated to improvising the overall campus climate overseeing reported incidences of sexual assaults and violence as well as taking into consideration holding student tuition fees.
Neither university President Wayne A.I. Frederick nor members of the Board of Trustees will be resigning from their posts.
HU Resist, the student organization that organized and led the protests, published a series of tweets on Twitter Friday morning to announce that its decision to no longer request “for the resignation of the president & executive board of trustees”, stating that “we are recentering our vision of student power to be a collective effort including the board of trustees.”
There have been 8 days of negotiations, and we have been deliberating ways in which we can recenter our cause around the overall improvement of our institution instead of the elimination of one figure.That being said,we are no longer calling for the resignation of the president &
— HU Resist (@HUResist) April 6, 2018
This retraction includes the color of change petition calling for the resignation of the president and executive board of trustees
— HU Resist (@HUResist) April 6, 2018
HU Resist subsequently thanked its followers for their support, affirming that “this is only the beginning.”
Thank you to everyone who supported us. This is only the beginning. ✊🏾❤️ #StudentPowerHU
— HU Resist (@HUResist) April 6, 2018
