Students who occupied a building at Howard University for 34 days have reached an agreement with school administrators over living conditions in dormitories.
Students at the historically black university in Washington, D.C., began camping in and around the Blackburn University Center last month when they said their complaints about mold, mice, roaches, flooding, and Wi-Fi outages in the dorms went unheard. After over a month of negotiations, President Wayne Frederick announced Monday that the university had reached a deal with protesters.
HOWARD UNIVERSITY STUDENTS LIVING IN TENTS TO PROTEST MOLD AND MICE IN DORMS
“I am pleased to share with you today that through ongoing dialogue and a desire to hear and address their concerns, the student protesters have agreed to end the Blackburn occupation and leave the building,” Frederick said in a video statement. “I also expect nonstudent protesters to depart the surrounding area and to end the occupation of the campus. This is a welcome development and a necessary conclusion to a challenging few weeks for everyone involved.”
One of the student organizers, Jasmine Joof, said she was protesting because the mold in her dorm room caused her to suffer from headaches, a cough, and congestion due to an allergic reaction.
“It’s active negligence to their students,” Joof said. “They have had every opportunity to fix these dorms.”
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Students slept and lived in tents outside the building, attracting the attention of civil rights leaders such as Jesse Jackson, William Barber II, and Martin Luther King III. To raise awareness on social media, the group used the hashtag #BlackburnTakeover, which trended on Twitter at several points. Over 150 students took part in the protest for better housing, which costs approximately $14,000 a year.
The protest inspired students at other historically black colleges or universities to protest their living facilities, including at Morehouse College, Spelman College, and Clark Atlanta University.
Howard University is one of the country’s best-known HBCUs and has many prominent alumni, including Vice President Kamala Harris.
