Howard University Student-Protesters Reach Deal With School Officials

The Howard University students that were on a multi-day protest sit-in have reached an agreement with university administrators.

The sit-in, which lasted for nine days and was led by the student group HU Resist, ended on Friday. Close to 400 students had occupied an administrative building after finding out about a major misappropriation scandal of financial aid fund for low-income students.

“This is a long time coming,” HU Resist student organizer Alexis McKenney said at a press conference Friday.

University officials are said to have agreed to many of the students’ demands, including an overhaul of the school’s sexual assault policy, the creation of a food bank, freezing undergraduate tuition rates at current levels, reexamining  on-campus housing for students, and a review of policies allowing campus police officers to carry weapons, NPR reports.

HU Resist also stopped calling for the resignation of university president Wayne Frederick .

“Today marks the next chapter of progress at Howard University,” Marie Johns, a member of the board of trustees said. “These commitments are meant to address the needs and are for the benefit and welfare of the entire Howard University community.”

This is not the first time student protesters have led a successful sit-in at the historically black college. According to CNN, two previous protests at Howard, in 1968 and 1989, also took place in March and involved students taking over the administration building.