{"id":7197,"date":"2025-09-07T16:46:39","date_gmt":"2025-09-07T16:46:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/?p=7197"},"modified":"2025-09-07T16:46:39","modified_gmt":"2025-09-07T16:46:39","slug":"howard-university-president-vinson-resigns-frederick-returns-to-lead-hbcu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/?p=7197","title":{"rendered":"Howard University President Vinson Resigns, Frederick Returns to Lead HBCU"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Stacy M. Brown<\/a><\/span> and Mya Trujillo<\/a><\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

Not even a full week into the fall semester, Howard University announced Friday that President Ben Vinson III, who has served as the 18th leader of the historically Black institution since September 2023, will leave his post on Aug. 31.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn behalf of the Howard University Board of Trustees, we extend our sincere gratitude to Dr. Vinson for his service and leadership as president,\u201d said Leslie D. Hale (BBA \u201994), Howard University Board of Trustees chair, in a statement submitted to The Washington Informer.<\/p>\n

The Board of Trustees announced that Wayne A.I. Frederick, the university\u2019s 17th president from 2014 to 2023, will return as interim president on Sept. 1.<\/p>\n

Frederick, also president emeritus, is credited with record fundraising and expanding Howard\u2019s academic programs and facilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs we move forward, the Board of Trustees and university leadership remain steadfast in our commitment to maintaining Howard\u2019s mission of excellence, truth, and service and a vibrant, welcoming, and innovative academic environment where students continue to succeed,\u201d Hale continued. \u201cGiven our focus and commitment, the board has selected an interim president who is uniquely equipped to serve the university during this time of transition.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some students told The Washington Informer they were caught off guard and disappointed by the announcement.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy initial reaction was frustration,\u201d said Tamia Thompson, a graduate student at Howard University\u2019s School of Law. \u201cAnyone who was at Howard during Wayne\u2019s presidency remembers his treatment and negligence of staff, professors, and students. Vinson was an improvement, for sure, albeit not much, but I wish he\u2019d gotten enough time to make more of a change in a positive direction.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jocelyn Walsh, a senior and political science major, admitted to being confused by the move.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s only been here a year, and with the school year just starting, the timing feels unusual,\u201d Walsh remarked. \u201cIt raises questions about why the decision wasn\u2019t made over the summer. I don\u2019t trust the Board of Trustees.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vinson is departing the institution with the shortest tenure since Edward Parmelee Smith, who served just six months from 1875 to 1876. Touting his work to advance Howard\u2019s strategic vision in areas such as artificial intelligence, data analytics, and diasporic engagement, the president said his decision was guided by family and research priorities.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy foremost priority has always been the well-being and success of this community, and I remain committed to ensuring a smooth and constructive transition,\u201d said Vinson. \u201cI am grateful to the Board, faculty, staff, students, and partners who have supported the work we\u2019ve undertaken together. It has been an honor to serve Howard. At this point, I will be taking some time to be with my family and continue my research activities. I look forward to using my experiences as president to continue to serve higher education in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, Walsh said Vinson never appeared connected to anyone at the university.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom what I observed, he never seemed to be involved and visible on campus,\u201d she told The Informer. \u201cI think the constant turnover in leadership is concerning. It creates instability, and it feels like there are important issues students aren\u2019t being told about.\u201d<\/p>\n

Source: Published without changes from Washington Informer Newspaper<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Stacy M. Brown and Mya Trujillo Not even a full week into the fall semester, Howard University<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":7198,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[254,38,24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-america-fights-back","category-education","category-regular-column"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7197","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7197"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7197\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7199,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7197\/revisions\/7199"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7198"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}