By Micha Green, AFRO Washington, D.C. Editor, mgreen@afro.com

Hundreds of Howard University students are participating in a sit-in for the fifth straight day after last week’s report that approximately $1 million in financial aid funds had been misappropriated, causing a national scandal, Black Twitter uproar, and the Internet’s gift- memes of the alleged student embezzler, Tyrone Hankerson Jr.

Led by the student group, HU Resist, the student activists have occupied the Mordecai Wyatt Johnson Administration Building and presented the administration with a list of demands.  The list of demands include, an end to “unsubstantiated tuition hikes”, actively fighting “rape culture” on campus, more housing accommodations for students looking to live in gentrifying D.C. neighborhoods, the “immediate resignation” of Wayne A.I. Frederick, the school’s president, and the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees.

Howard University students hold a press conference about the protest in the Administration building. (Photo by Edgar Brookins for the AFRO)

The students are using Twitter as a mobilizing force and are regularly updating their page in order to ask for support, such as financial, food, and sleeping bags, and keep followers abreast of their work and progress.

After protesting through the weekend and Easter holiday, the group’s April 2 tweet, asked for help with food supplies.

“Thank you to everyone that has provided support and food.  We are in need of hot food for lunch.  We need vegan/ vegetarian options as well.  Please dm us if you’re willing to help.”

Even in their requests for support, the student group is even giving back to the community.

“Yesterday we continued our Food Pantry and donated some of our excess food to homeless members of the community. We managed to feed about 500 people,” the organization wrote.

According to The Root, Veritas1867, the person who originally posted the now deleted Medium article that anonymously leaked the financial aid scandal and named Hankerson as one of the main culprits, said that the student protestors are “just getting started”.

“The alumni and the board want to make this about numbers but this is really about people, and about how they’ve been abused,” Veritas told The Root on Sunday.

Veritas, who prefers the pronoun “they” called Howard’s president “a bully who intimidates people. He’s done that to faculty he’s done that to students for years. And he has gotten away with it. The reason this thing has gone on for so long is that people were afraid of him, but this time we’re not afraid.”

Vertias said, “Chase,” the student informant who provided what they called proof of the financial aid scandal, is experiencing intimidation from Howard’s community after his name was leaked through various social media sources.

“They want to humiliate him and silence him,” says Veritas. “And sadly, it’s working. He’s in a whole other state, he doesn’t want to talk to press. He’s not at ease,” they said.

Veritas said they and HU Resist are now standing in solidarity with Chase and other struggling students.

““It’s time for new leadership. Alumni and the administration think this is about financial aid but the truth is that has created a culture at the university where people don’t hold people accountable,” Veritas said.

The students met with the administration on Sunday and at least one of their demands, extending the housing application deadline to May 1, was met.

“We have no plans to leave until our demands are met,” they said.