The Hilltop

The Hilltop Official account of Howard University's Student Newspaper. The Student Voice of Howard University Si Metro area.

Located in the heart of Northwest Washington, D.C., The Hilltop at Howard University remains on the forefront of campus, local, and national news. University owned and student operated, The Hilltop, with a print circulation of 9,000 and a daily online publication, is committed to providing critical and enlightening news to the Howard University community and the Washington, D.C.

Hey Bison! With the start of the new school year comes a new season of The HillTalks podcast. 🔗 Click the link in our bi...
08/25/2026

Hey Bison! With the start of the new school year comes a new season of The HillTalks podcast.

🔗 Click the link in our bio to listen. New episodes are released every Monday!

NEWS | Washington, D.C.In 1924, Howard University students celebrated the first-ever alumni elected on the Board of Trus...
08/24/2026

NEWS | Washington, D.C.

In 1924, Howard University students celebrated the first-ever alumni elected on the Board of Trustees, according to a list of historical trustees. Over a century later, a group of alumni are slated to bring the Board to court over the removal of student, faculty and staff trustee positions. 

Between 2014 and 2021, the Board made various changes to the bylaws, which govern how the Board functions. The alumni plaintiffs claim that the Board’s governance committee Chair, and the Board’s illegal removal of elected alumni, student and faculty Trustees violated its by-laws. 

According to case documents, in 2020, student, alumni and faculty trustee elections were frozen by the Chair of the Trustee Board’s Governance Committee, which led to a vacancy in six of the seven affiliate trustee roles. On Friday, Aug. 28, a preliminary hearing will take place for Jenkins v. HU Board of Trustees.

Timothy L. Jenkins, joined by nine alumni plaintiffs, is suing the Board for violating its bylaws, which led to the Board’s vote to remove the affiliate trustee roles in 2021, at a time when most of the affiliate positions were vacant from the suspended election. While there are still alumni on the Board today, they are appointed and not elected.

Bill “Damani” Keene is a former Board member and one of the plaintiffs. He believes that the actions of the Board threaten shared governance within university leadership.

Keene’s concern for the elimination of the positions was not simply the Board’s decision to restructure itself, but how it went about doing so. He said student, faculty and alumni elections were halted or not honored before the positions were eliminated and alleged that the affected groups were not consulted beforehand.

“The last thing that I ever thought I would do is sue Howard University,” Keene said. 

🔗 Click the link in our bio to read more on the lawsuit surrounding Howard University’s Board of Trustees’ removal of several trustee roles, which will begin pre-trial on Aug. 28.

✍🏽: Tatiana Traore and Indigo Mays
📸: Photo courtesy of DCCourts via Pixabay

INVESTIGATIVE | Students approve planned implementation of the D.C. Metro’s UPass program for more affordable public tra...
08/21/2026

INVESTIGATIVE | Students approve planned implementation of the D.C. Metro’s UPass program for more affordable public transportation.

🔗 Click the link in our bio to read more.

✍🏽: Chelsea Barnor, Alyssa Carter and Zoe Hairston
📸: Angel Harper/The Hilltop

VARIETY | Many students looking for parties turn to apps like “Posh” or “Flite” which offer information such as ticket p...
08/21/2026

VARIETY | Many students looking for parties turn to apps like “Posh” or “Flite” which offer information such as ticket prices, themes and promotional graphics. However, what attendees may not realize is that long before an event appears on their phones, it often undergoes a thorough planning process. 

From hiring the DJ who plays all the classics to managing promotional campaigns, the students behind these groups handle several tasks to curate events for students. 

Daja Jennings, a junior mass communications major from Dallas, works with the event promoter group “HU Network” and founded her own entertainment production company, “DOPE.ENT Entertainment.”

“My mission is to bring people together. I don’t care how you come into my events. I care about how you come out and how you feel in the inside,” she said.

High-traffic nightlife streets like U Street Northwest, H Street Northeast and Connecticut Avenue draw large crowds at night, especially on weekends. Sometimes at events or parties, crowds can become unruly when large groups of people funnel into one place. 

Jennings also mentioned that, despite these booking concerns, she takes the community’s safety seriously. 

“Because [just] as my safety is important, every single person that bought a ticket’s safety is important,” she said.

🔗 Click the link in our bio to read more on the behind-the-scenes work that goes into the events and parties that promoters and cultural curators host.

✍🏽: Bonnie Ogunrinola
📸: Photo courtesy of Tracey Wells

The Hilltop is now accepting applications to join the business team. This is your opportunity to be part of Howard’s leg...
08/19/2026

The Hilltop is now accepting applications to join the business team.

This is your opportunity to be part of Howard’s legacy and contribute to one of the most historic student-run newspapers in the nation. Swipe to see the available positions, applications close August 30, 2026.

🔗Click the link in our bio to access the application.

CAMPUS | On July 22, two weeks before freshman move-in week, A’Zariah Miles, an incoming freshman, received an email fro...
08/18/2026

CAMPUS | On July 22, two weeks before freshman move-in week, A’Zariah Miles, an incoming freshman, received an email from Howard University’s enrollment management stating that she was unenrolled from the university.

Miles planned to travel from her hometown of Knoxville, Tennessee to Washington, D.C. for the upcoming fall semester. That morning, she was alerted that because she did not meet initial tuition payment deadlines, Howard would no longer hold her place in the incoming class. 

“I was just like, ‘Okay, I mean, what is there to do now,’” Miles said. “Everything was just crumbling down on me.”

According to the Office of University Communications, 502 prospective freshmen received emails revoking their enrollment. Within hours of the mass emails, social media platforms were flooded by a wave of backlash from Howard’s unenrolled students, families and alumni. Since then, more than 200 of those freshmen have been re-enrolled; the class of 2030 now stands at 2,589 students. 

Howard’s interim president, Dr. Wayne A.I. Frederick, attributed the situation in part to a perception among some students that Howard would find a way to support them financially if they were admitted.

Frederick told The Hilltop that the university has limited resources. 

“When we don’t have the resources to take care of the students in the way that we want to, then people criticize us,” he said. “They don’t recognize that doing all of these things at the last minute and trying to accommodate people who don’t fill out the forms, etc., doesn’t make the place efficient.”

Frederick also released a public statement announcing that each student who received an unenrollment notice was evaluated, with some having their enrollment restored. 

“For students whose enrollment cannot be restored for fall 2026, we are exploring future pathways,” he said. 

🔗 Click the link in our bio to read more on how incoming first-year students raised the alarm across social media platforms, criticizing the Howard university’s communication and management of the situation.

📸: Brycen Bracy/The Hilltop
✍🏾: Lyric Hoover and Chelsea Barnor

Exciting news! Our Freshmen print edition is now available! Swipe to find your nearest pickup location, grab your copy a...
08/17/2026

Exciting news! Our Freshmen print edition is now available! Swipe to find your nearest pickup location, grab your copy and catch up on all the latest news. Also available now on thehilltoponline.com

Apply to join The Hilltop’s variety section at the link in bio, open until this Friday!
06/16/2026

Apply to join The Hilltop’s variety section at the link in bio, open until this Friday!

Apply to join The Hilltop’s opinion section at the link in bio, open until this Friday!
06/16/2026

Apply to join The Hilltop’s opinion section at the link in bio, open until this Friday!

Apply to join The Hilltop’s multimedia department at the link in bio, open until this Friday!
06/16/2026

Apply to join The Hilltop’s multimedia department at the link in bio, open until this Friday!

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