Three D.C. government employees were kicked off Howard University’s campus last week as they distributed literature aimed at protecting students from slumlords and dangerous rental properties.
The city’s Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs sent its staff to Howard’s private Northwest campus on Wednesday to promote thisshouldbeillegal.com, the agency’s anti-slum outreach campaign for students. The team was promptly booted.
“They did not secure the appropriate authorization and were provided with details on how to gain access,” Kerry-Ann Hamilton, Howard spokeswoman, wrote in an e-mail. “The individuals in question also defaced the grounds using spray ‘chalk’ during their canvassing. They were asked to leave the campus.”
Michael Rupert, DCRA spokesman, said the three employees were rolling through campus in a cart, handing out fliers and marking the sidewalks with chalk until the school’s vice provost for student affairs asked them to leave. The agency had sought Howard’s permission to distribute its pamphlets after receiving dozens of calls from university students, Rupert said, but got no response.
“There was a misunderstanding,” Rupert said, adding DCRA plans to send an apology letter to the university. “We’re going to seek approval.”
As for the chalk, he said, it “will wash away with a good broom or the first rain.”
“It’s not like we’re selling CDs or dirty T-shirts,” Rupert said. “We’re trying to help students.”
The thisshouldbeillegal.com Web site, Facebook page and Twitter feed link visitors to listings of licensed landlords, inspection request forms, complaint forms and fire safety tips. More than 10,000 students live off campus in the District, and undergraduates are particularly vulnerable to slumlords, given their limited cash and need for short-term leases.
Roughly 45 percent of Howard students live off campus, second in the city to the University of the District of Columbia.
“We figured because of the number, we just wanted to go ahead and reach out and provide the information,” Rupert said.
DCRA depends on tenants to anonymously report violations that landlords refuse to address.
