Howard Financial Aid debacle: What comes next

Over the past two weeks, Howard University’s Office of Financial Aid has been under a massive amount of scrutiny as allegations against employees began to pile up after more than $369,000 was reportedly been embezzled by said financial aid staff.
According to representatives at Howard who are close to the investigation, the misappropriation of funds had been taking place for more than fives years, starting 2011 and ending sometime in 2016.
Tyrone Hankerson Jr., a graduating senior at Howard University has been identified as one of the primary beneficiaries of the incident, along with six other individuals who all work in the financial aid office.
It was through an online blogging site called Medium where initial reports of Hankerson’s involvement in the scandal began to surface. While the blog post involved was later deleted, court filings on behalf of Hankerson state he became the target of numerous defamatory statements, through social media or otherwise after the post met the public eye.
While he has been the “scapegoat”, as stated in his case file, for media outlets around the country in regards to his alleged participation in the financial aid scandal, Hankerson has repeatedly insisted his innocence in the entire scenario.
As of Monday morning on April 9, Hankerson has filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against the university with Howard president, Wayne A.I. Fredrick as the primary defendant.
“It is a very, very sad day for our university when one of its brightest sons has had to do this,” said attorney James L. Walker Jr., Hankerson’s spokesperson. Walker Jr. continued , “It breaks my heart to see Howard [University] handle Mr. Hankerson in this manner. This could be anybody’s son or daughter.”
According to the case files presented to the courts, Hankerson was “used as a scapegoat for Defendant Howard’s wrongdoings.”
Similarly, the court documents also present details about how Hankerson’s personal and professional reputations have been forced to suffer after the allegations against him were brought to light.
With Howard University being one of the most prominent HBCUs in the country, many students who attend Southern University have their own strong opinions on the case and on Hankerson’s lawsuit.
“I think that the way that the courts should handle it is by acknowledging that the school did violate [his rights], but that it should be equated [with what was taken from the university],” said Jasmine Lewis, a freshman Electrical Engineering major from Brazil.
According to Lewis, if Hankerson did indeed steal money from the university, then the money he would receive in his lawsuit should be used to replace the money that was taken.
While all of the facts behind the case have yet to make themselves known, the general consensus is that Hankerson will have a credible case when he does go in front of a judge.
A Howard representative said in a statement that the university does not comment on any pending litigation and that they were not making any comments about the protected information of any Howard student.