How Howard University is responding to high school students wearing ‘Make America Great Again’ hats on campus
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Version 0 of 1. Howard University reaffirmed its commitment to freedom of speech and supporting opposing viewpoints this week after two white teenagers went to a campus diner over the weekend wearing “Make America Great Again” clothing, creating a stir on campus and online. University President Wayne A.I. Frederick said in a statement Tuesday that “engagement, now more than ever, is the answer.” “But that engagement must occur in a respectful manner between all parties on even footing,” he continued. “Howard is a community where freedom of speech in all forms and opposing views are respected. Every member of our community should further their truth through meaningful interaction and embrace differing opinions, while not compromising principles and ideals.” The incident unfolded Saturday when a group of high school students from Pennsylvania who were part of a Talent Search program went to Howard’s on-campus diner, the Annex, for lunch. The program aims to help students from disadvantaged backgrounds pursue higher-education opportunities, according to Brad Whitman, the director of federal and state programs at the Northwest Tri-County Intermediate Unit, which provides services for 17 public school districts and oversees the Talent Search program. Whitman said the trip to Howard was arranged through the travel agency that planned the trip. “The point of the program is that students see the opportunities that are out there for them,” Whitman said, adding that the group also included students of color. The incident occurred a week after the deadly white-supremacist protest in Charlottesville that put a spotlight on racial tensions in the country. [He wore Confederate dress to Charlottesville. He got two middle fingers and possible expulsion from college.] Allie Van Dee, 16, and a friend on the trip said they purchased the hats and a shirt with the Donald Trump campaign slogan “Make America Great Again” at the Fashion Centre at Pentagon City in Arlington before going to the Howard campus. Van Dee said she did not know Howard was a historically black university, adding that it would not have prompted them to remove their Trump paraphernalia. When they entered the cafeteria, according to Van Dee, they were “harassed” by Howard students as one took her friend’s Trump hat. One of the supervisors of the Talent Search program intervened, and the high school students left the campus. “What those kids did to me is not going to stop me from supporting the president. This opened my eyes to fake news, to what is really going on, and it cultured me a bit,” Van Dee said. “Trump is not the KKK. He is not a Nazi. He is not a white supremacist.” The incident gained traction on social media after Van Dee posted about it on Twitter. BuzzFeed first reported it. Howard students wrote about the incident on Twitter, with one tweeting “who told these lil yt [white] girls they could come to THE HU like it was about to be some joke,” with a picture of one of the girls in a Trump hat. Soon after the incident, Howard’s main Twitter account tweeted, “The recent events in Charlottesville are the latest examples of the deep divisions that exist in our country.” “Though this is an institution where freedom of thought, choice, and expression are ever-present, we will never compromise our values or allow others to convince us to do so,” the tweets continued. “We will remain committed to truth and service and boldly affirm who we are and what we stand for. Our campus is a space for educational engagement to occur between both those who do and do not share our values. Thankfully, when visitors set foot on our campus they are met with some of the brightest and best students in our nation.” |