Howard, Student Demonstrators Reach Deal To End Housing Protests

The 33-day standoff between Howard University students and the Washington, D.C., school's administrators ended Monday with the sides reaching a confidential agreement.

The agreement, announced Monday morning, ends the occupation of the university's Blackburn University Center, where dozens of students have stayed since mid-October to protest instances of mold, rats, flooding and other hazardous conditions in on-campus housing.

The university has disclosed at least 38 of the 2,700 total rooms on campus have mold, NBC News reported. The university also announced that one of its housing facilities flooded this weekend, forcing some students to temporarily evacuate to a library, and increasing the risk for further mold contamination.

Most of the students' demands revolved around the housing issues, insisting that the university clean up mold and flooding damage, replace expired air filters and restore services like WiFi that hadn't been working. Sixty percent of Howard's on-campus housing is managed by Corvias Campus Living, The Washington Post reports.

"It can be said without any hesitation or reservation that the students courageously journeyed on a path towards greater university accountability and transparency and public safety," Donald Temple, a lawyer representing the students, said at a press conference announcing the agreement. "And this agreement marks a meeting of the minds between them regarding the issues of concern."

Beyond the housing concerns, the students have also said they want a student-affiliate position reinstated on the university's board of trustees and a meeting with Howard University President Wayne Frederick.

Details of the agreement weren't immediately available, but the protesters described it as a "win" that met their demands.

"We came, we saw, we declared and we won. We won for Howard students," said Channing Hill, one of the student protest leaders at the press conference. "We challenged the lack of accountability, we challenged the lack of safety, and we challenged the lack of our ability to even say that there was a problem."

Over the past decade, Howard University has taken advantage of the booming real estate market in Shaw to redevelop several of its existing properties, and in multiple cases has turned old student housing buildings into rental apartments.

In 2017, the university announced a partnership with Urban Investment Partners and Neighborhood Development Corp. to convert Carver Hall and Slowe Hall, two former student housing buildings, into apartments.

The university also tapped Jair Lynch in 2016 to redevelop its Meridian Hill Hall dormitory into private market apartments as part of a 99-year lease agreement. That building, now called the âme, began leasing up in 2019.

The Axis at Howard, which delivered last year, was formerly a university office building and now provides housing for graduate students, professional students, and faculty and staff. 

That project, a 176-unit development located at 2225 Georgia Ave. NW was converted from offices and included support from Preston Hollow Capital, Provident Resources Group, Corvias, Alvarez & Marsal, Bank of America/Merrill Lynch and the D.C. government.

The university has also entered into final negotiations with EDENS, Fivesquares Development and The Menkiti Group to redevelop the 2.2-acre Bond Bread Factory and Washington Railway & Electric Co. building sites. Current plans for that project would transform the historic buildings into a 600K SF mixed-use property featuring a market, public park, retail and roughly 450 residential units, according to UrbanTurf.

Some prominent Howard alumni criticized the confidentiality agreement reached between the demonstrators and school officials in the aftermath of the announcement, NBC reported. The protestors spent Monday clearing out the university center of tents and air mattresses, the Post reported.

At 5:15 p.m. Monday, Frederick released a statement acknowledging the agreement and said more details would be released in the future.

"The health and well-being of our students is the most important part of my job as president," Frederick said. "As I have said before, even one issue in one of our dormitories is too many, and we will continue to remain vigilant in our pledge to maintain safe and high-end housing."