Howard Defends Unenrolling 500 Students

The interim president of Howard University said over 200 of the more than 500 first-year incoming students who were unenrolled for the fall semester have been readmitted to the Washington, DC, school. In an interview with the AP on Wednesday, Wayne AI Frederick defended the way the historically Black university handled the initial unenrollment, saying many students and their families apparently misunderstood the communicated financial obligations they were expected to meet before the start of instruction in August. "There were no issues as far as what we communicated," Frederick said, adding that the school had been clear since March about unpaid balances for tuition that were due by mid-July.

Students who were unenrolled for financial reasons had outstanding tuition balances after their financial aid and scholarships were applied, he said. Others were unenrolled because of unreported immunizations. "I don't think it's just a simple matter of right or wrong. I think Howard adhered to its policies or procedures," Frederick said. After students learned last week that they no longer had spots at Howard, one of about 100 historically Black colleges and universities in the US, some students and parents said they had trouble reaching officials at Howard by phone or email, leaving them unsure of how to resolve issues. Frederick acknowledged that the deluge of calls was overwhelming, but he said emails received a response. He said the staff started meeting and speaking with parents and students, which led to the reenrollments.

The school received about 37,000 applications for enrollment this fall. About 2,200 incoming students remained enrolled after 502 were removed last week, Frederick said. Keana Johnson, one of the unenrolled, lives in a shelter for teens and young adults in New York City. A staffer at the shelter rode with the 17-year-old Wednesday by train to Howard to ask how she could be reenrolled. After speaking in person with a Howard official, she was told that her enrollment had been reinstated. "I do feel there was a lesson to learn from this," Johnson said. "I shed tears over this and I was really disheartened, at first, but I felt like I couldn't give up. Until I really got the final say-so that I really couldn't come, I couldn't give up trying."