In 2019, hours after announcing her first presidential run, Kamala Harris held an impassioned news conference on the campus of Howard University, her alma mater and one of the highest-profile historically Black institutions.
“Some people are asking, ‘Why are you bringing everyone together here?’” Harris said. “It is because Howard University is one of the most important aspects of my life.”
When she was inaugurated months later as the nation’s vice president, Howard’s then-president pledged the university’s “unwavering support.”
“Harris’s ascendence is a powerful symbol of the progress our country has made,” Wayne A.I. Frederick said in his statement at the time. “To be sure, that progress has been inconsistent, and our country is far from perfect. But we would be remiss to overlook the significance of what Harris’s inauguration represents.”
Now, Harris is the presumed Democratic nominee for president of the United States, and in the two weeks since her announcement, Ben Vinson III, Howard’s current president, has been noticeably mute. No congratulations. No rallies. No reminders to the nation that Harris is a “daughter of Howard.”
In the last few years, college presidents have come under rapid fire for saying anything deemed political. Politicians have reminded colleges about their nonprofit status, which prohibits institutional endorsement of candidates or political parties, and some boards of trustees have blocked college presidents through policy from saying anything deemed overtly political.
The pressure to stay politically neutral is especially acute for Howard, which is uniquely tethered to the whims of the federal government. It was chartered by Congress, which today provides a third of its funding, and the U.S. education secretary has an ex-officio position on its Board of Trustees. Perceived political bias could be financially ruinous, as the administration recently reminded its alumni.
Harris’s ascendence to the top of the Democratic ticket has electrified HBCU students, faculty members, and alumni who for decades have fought against the perception of their institutions’ being less than. Howard’s alumni have taken their enthusiasm to social media with graphics and call-outs adorned with the university’s colors, logos, and its mascot, a bison.
The university has to thread a really delicate needle in its balance of wanting to acknowledge this historic moment for one of its alumnae and how it organizes itself as nonpartisan because it receives a federal appropriation.
A Howard spokesperson responded to The Chronicle’s request for comment with this statement: “Given our position as a nonprofit organization, the university does not engage in any political activity, including political endorsements. Should Vice President Harris become the president-elect, the university will be prepared to offer comments on the success of our alumna.”
Last week the university issued a cautionary statement to the Howard community to clarify the guardrails around partisan political activity.
“Key stakeholders may not make partisan political statements (oral or written) when speaking as a representative of Howard University, at official Howard University functions, or in official Howard University publications,” the statement said. “A violation … whether intentional or unintentional, could have significant consequences that would jeopardize the financial future of the university.”
“The university has to thread a really delicate needle in its balance of wanting to acknowledge this historic moment for one of its alumnae and how it organizes itself as nonpartisan because it receives a federal appropriation,” said Keneshia Grant, an associate professor of political science at Howard.
The University of Pennsylvania has largely distanced itself from Donald J. Trump, a 1968 graduate of its Wharton School. Some Penn alumni called on the university to revoke Trump’s degree following his incitement of the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, according to The Daily Pennsylvanian. Penn has not done so.
Political Impartiality
Howard, established in the years after the abolishment of slavery with seed money from the Freedmen’s Bureau, is one of just six universities to be chartered through acts of Congress. During the 2022 fiscal year, Howard University received $217 million in federal appropriations, accounting for more than a third of the university’s operating budget.
Frederick, who led the university through the Obama, Trump, and Biden administrations, when politics became increasingly polarized, welcomed an array of high-profile personalities from across the political spectrum to the campus in an explicit effort to enforce a public perception of political impartiality and civility.
In 2017 student organizers protested Frederick’s decision to allow James Comey, the former FBI director, to occupy an endowed chair in public policy, lead a lecture series for Howard students, and give the keynote speech at the university’s opening convocation. A few years earlier, Comey had criticized calls for police restraint, saying it would lead to a surge of violent crime in urban cities.
Responding to the protests, Frederick told the Howard community, “We will not fear opposing viewpoints or ideologies,” according to The Hilltop, the campus newspaper.
Under Frederick’s leadership five years later, the university hired the journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones, who was routinely targeted by Trump and other conservatives for her race coverage and leadership of The New York Times’s controversial 1619 Project.
In sharp contrast, Vinson, who succeeded Frederick last fall, has made few if any overtly political appointments or statements.
Vinson was one of the only college presidents in the Washington, D.C., area who said nothing after the October 7 attacks against Israel and the subsequent war with Hamas. That’s despite pressure from the student body and faculty members to denounce the attacks and divest from Israel.
Other HBCU presidents have not shied away from speaking out in recent days about the historic significance of Harris’s political rise. She could make Howard the first HBCU with an alum in the Oval Office.
In a letter published one day after Harris’s announcement, two HBCU presidents, writing on behalf of the President’s Board of Advisers on Historically Black Colleges & Universities, thanked President Biden and Vice President Harris for their commitment to and investment in HBCUs. The letter noted that over the past three years, the Biden administration delivered nearly "$17 billion in investments” to HBCUs — more than any other administration.
“Madam Vice President — an HBCU alumna yourself — you, of course, know that HBCUs have long accepted doing more with less. But because of the Biden-Harris team, it is clear that less is no longer acceptable,” President Tony Allen of Delaware State University and former President Glenda Glover of Tennessee State University wrote.
During Harris’s time at Howard in the 1980s, she participated in student-led protests against South Africa’s system of apartheid and later in a takeover of the administration building. It was these moments, Harris has said, that ignited her passion for politics and cemented her love for the university.
At the university’s 2017 commencement ceremony, Frederick presented an honorary doctorate of humane letters to Harris for accomplishments, such as being the first woman to serve as the attorney general of California.
As vice president, Harris exploited her Howard affiliation to speak directly to Black voters. She appeared often on campus, to tout billion-dollar investments in Black-owned businesses and to champion reproductive rights.
“We are always with you and applauding you each and every step of the way,” Harris said during her chapel appearance at the university’s homecoming celebration in 2022.
Thousands of Howard alumni have rallied behind Harris on the heels of her campaign announcement, leading fund-raising efforts and working to mobilize voters.
Cameron Trimble, a Howard University alumnus who has spent most of his career working on political campaigns, said he received close to 100 messages from friends and former classmates over the past week asking how they can best support Harris’s campaign.
Having a vice president and now possibly a president from an HBCU, that uplifts the entire community.
That momentum led Trimble, along with Stefanie Brown James and Quentin James — founders of the Collective PAC, which supports Black political candidates — to arrange “HU Bison for Harris,” a national Zoom call for Howard alumni. Nearly 4,000 alumni and students joined the call last week, raising more than $100,000 for Harris’s campaign.
For multiple HBCU advocates, what Harris represents is clear: Her political success is not in spite of her HBCU education, but because of it.
“Having a vice president and now possibly a president from an HBCU, that uplifts the entire community,” Trimble said. “Around the world it will help drive future students who want to go to HBCUs. … It’s not just an accomplishment for Howard, but HBCUs as a whole.”
Georgette Greenlee, who attended Howard University at the same time as Harris, said that she understands Howard’s political constraints in supporting the vice president but that she is excited to see how alumni will campaign for Harris.
“Vice President Harris really relies on her alumni network and puts it to good use. I’m sure there will be a lot of that over the next 100 days,” Greenlee said.
