Howard students demand Trump be banned from campus

Students at Howard University are demanding that their administration cut any and all ties with the White House, even requesting a “24-hour notice” of “any interaction” with President Trump’s team and an outright prohibition against Trump himself appearing on campus.

Indeed, a list of five demands recently issued by a Howard student organization known as “Concerned Students, 1867” even calls for completely banning President Trump “from all university-affiliated buildings.”

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“To allow Donald Trump onto our campus is a direct threat to the sanctity of our safe space, therefore, he should not, at any point, be allowed on this campus,” declares the ultimatum, a copy of which was obtained Campus Reform, before demanding that “the university provide a 24-hours’ notice and full disclosure on any interaction with the Trump administration.”

Additionally, the demands call for a refusal to cooperate with the Trump administration even in pursuit of financial benefits, saying it would amount to an endorsement of “fascism” for the school to accept additional federal funding while Trump remains in office.

“We recognize the financial hardships faced by the university, but to cooperate with the Trump administration is to endorse fascism and create a situation in which the institution is forced to forego its principles in fear of reprisal,” the ultimatum declares. “We cannot justify accepting additional funds from an administration that inherently hinders the pursuit of Black liberation” [emphasis in original].

Other items on the list include the increasingly ubiquitous call for “sanctuary” for illegal immigrant students, increased resources for marginalized students, and a statement from the school’s president expressing “his commitment to the liberation of black people and other oppressed peoples.”

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“It must be understood that these demands only outline the precursors necessary for Howard to embody the principles on which it stands,” the letter concludes, asking for a “detailed plan of action” from the school’s president “no later than noon [on] Wednesday, February 15.”

University President Wayne Frederick told Campus Reform in a statement that he has “received” the list of demands and is in “the process of carefully reviewing those demands,” but declined to make any commitments beyond agreeing to meet with the students.

“We take the concerns outlined very seriously and support activism on this campus,” he said. “As a first step, I will meet later this week with those concerned students to discuss their demands in greater detail.”

Follow the author of this article on Twitter: @AGockowski