It’s an honor to enroll at a prestigious historically Black college or university.
Jalen Brown was fortunate enough to have done so twice, just not under the most desirable circumstances. He is now an undergraduate student at Morehouse College after being suspended by Howard University over a social media post, as told in the Washington Post.
Brown, 20, was a student at Howard in Washington, D.C. in 2019 when he was removed due to a tweet he sent to a fellow student. At the time, Brown was supporting a campaign on campus over students losing their scholarships due to poor grades. He and the other student were engaged in a Twitter argument over the topic.
After receiving a tweet from the student in opposition to the movement, Brown responded by referencing the esteemed abolitionist Harriet Tubman and the legend of her pulling guns on runaway slaves who had doubts of completing the journey north during the days of the Underground Railroad.
“how do you publicly talk down to a group that’s doing their DAMN best to save the future of hundreds of students? harriet shot you n—-s and we’ll do the same,” Brown wrote.
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Although Brown would delete his tweet the next day, it still caught the attention of the authorities, leading to Brown’s suspension from the university, despite his expression of remorse at his hearing.
Alonda Thomas, Howard’s public relations director, stated that the reason for Brown’s suspension was over a code of conduct violation, saying that “all students are guaranteed freedom of expression . . . provided that such activity is conducted in a reasonable manner, does not abridge the rights of others,” the Post article said.
The opposing student also came out in defense of Brown, writing months later in an open letter that the message was not taken as a “serious threat and [I] almost forgot about it” until being contacted by a D.C. police detective investigating the matter.
Brown would transfer to Morehouse College in Atlanta. He was transparent and made made school officials aware of his Howard suspension.
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“I showed them the tweet that led to my suspension,” Brown told the paper. “I did not leave anything out.”
Morehouse still admitted him.
While he is currently a student there, Brown has not given up hope to return to Howard.
“Multiple times now. I’ve expressed [h]ow inappropriate and immature my tweet was,” said Brown, as quoted in the article. “I have written multiple apology letters to multiple members of Howard’s administration.”
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