Howard University, the historically black university located in Washington has dealt with controversy after controversy with respect to its treatment of their students, specifically housing accommodations on campus.
But on Wednesday, Howard President Wayne A.I. Frederick confirmed an anonymously written Medium blog post that alleged the university had abused the student’s financial aid funding.
An internal investigation found that for nine years between 2007 and 2016, some employees who took classes at the university received both tuition benefits to cover the cost of classes and were receiving university grants. This led to these employees raking in more money than the cost of attendance, which brings up questions about possible embezzlement.
As a result, six Howard University employees were fired for “gross misconduct and neglect of duties” after the school had found that student financial aid money had been misappropriated. Former employee-student Tyrone Hankerson Jr. was outed as one of the employees who allegedly scammed the university out of $429,000. And, of course, there were memes. Some very good ones at that.
This man stole $429,000 in Financial Aid at Howard y’all
Tyrone Hankerson, a student-employee in the Financial Aid office. Set to graduate! & Got caught
This the iconic photo we found on his Facebook??✊?
Mink Coat, Designer Bag, the FINESSE GOD TYRONE ☠️☠️I am DEAD pic.twitter.com/PQrYQaPXzJ
— Lew Sid (@LewSidRaps) March 28, 2018
Surveillance footage of Tyrone answering student calls in HU Financial Aid Office… pic.twitter.com/i9o5ucZ8Cj
— G O L D I E. (@goldietaylor) March 28, 2018
Tyrone Hankerson walked around that campus for 4 years just like this. pic.twitter.com/0jbrT3Cl5N
— Afro-LightskinO. (@itsKARY_) March 28, 2018
Hankerson Jr. released a statement saying that he “followed all the rules and protocol with approval of the, then, financial aid officers.”
ABC News has received the following statement on behalf of Tyrone Hankerson Jr. pic.twitter.com/hIA8uaIlG3
— Anastasia (@AnastasiaElyseW) March 28, 2018
How can something like this happen? We’re not entirely sure, either. However, what is clear is that this is just another example of Howard President Wayne Frederick exhibiting a lack of regard for his students.
Earlier this year, Howard dealt with housing accommodation issues where some students were left wondering if they actually would be paying over $4,000 per semester for housing and not have a roof over their head. The response that one student, Kendal Hall, received from President Frederick left her stunned, and her tweet that included screengrabs of the exchange went viral as a result.
I sat here and wrote this email calmly while my emotions were ripping me apart inside. But this is what I got. I am borderline homeless but I’m so sorry my tone was slightly off. pic.twitter.com/aOC9RZMNAu
— Kendal Hall (@kendalalise5) March 7, 2018
After the tweet went viral, Hall received a personal apology from Frederick.
Additionally, the housing many students were left with was mouse- and mold-infested. In January, Howard had to postpone classes by a week because the heating system didn’t work in many of the dorms.
And finally, in 2017, Frederick named former FBI Director James Comey the Howard University Endowed Chair in Public Policy and the keynote speaker at their convocation, for which he received $100,000. While Comey donated the money to a university scholarship fund, students were unhappy with the decision and even protested his convocation address, disrupting it several times.
Frederick may not be responsible for most of these things mentioned, but he’s lost the confidence of many students and, arguably, many faculty members, too. The buck ultimately stops with him. There needs to be accountability for how a university operates, and Frederick has proved in the last year that he’s not the right person for the job.
