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STORY: :: Kamala Harris' alma mater Howard University

buzzing ahead of her election night visit

:: Washington, DC

:: November 4, 2024

:: Edric Bussie, freshman

"It was so surreal watching them building the construction on the yard which is iconic in itself. Being a current student on a university that has so much notable alumni is just, honestly, I don’t believe it. I see it but it hasn’t hit me yet.”"

:: Christene Blake, freshman

"So walking around campus, you see people talking about it. So it's extremely, very helpful, very joyful I would say."

:: Howard's student newspaper has closely

followed Harris' campaign since she stepped in

:: JD Jean-Jacques, The Hilltop Editor-in-Chief, Senior

“This week, it’s all hands on deck so we are going full throttle this week. Reporters, photographers, videographers, illustrators, everybody is going to be here on campus, in dorms, in spaces where students are to capture the atmosphere and to capture the moment of this week.”

“She was a student leader on campus. She ran for freshman class representative of the Liberal Arts Student Council. Obviously, she joined the AKA while she was a student here and they talked about what she was like. Our reporting shows that she was very vibrant. She was well respected around campus and things of that nature. Our reporting has shown what people are saying about her and what she was like as a student and obviously tomorrow, on Election Day, we’re hoping to bring that all into a neat story about her time at Howard, the process of running through the presidential election and then the results.”

As law enforcement looked on, workers set up fencing around the perimeter of the campus, limiting access to the urban campus from nearby streets.

In 'The Yard,' as students call the university's main quad, workers set up screens and erected a stage from where Harris and Vice President Tim Walz are expected to speak.

With reporters, law enforcement and construction workers on campus, students said the energy was palpable, and seemed both excited and proud to have an alumna choose their university to host the historic event.

Senior history major JD Jean-Jacques is editor-in-chief of The Hilltop, the weekly school newspaper. He said about 80 students will be reporting, photographing and videotaping the event for the paper.

Jean-Jacques said The Hilltop has reported extensively about Harris' time on campus, interviewing several of her AKA (Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority) sisters and traveling with them to Philadelphia to attend a Harris rally. He said that student reporting has found that Harris was a well-respected student leader when she attended in the 1980s.

Howard is one of the country's premiere HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) and is known for such notable alumni as former Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, "Black Panther" actor Chadwick Boseman, Pulitzer Prize winning author Toni Morrison, among others. Founded in 1867, right after the Civil War when most universities would not admit African-Americans, Howard has long provided higher education for the country's African-American professionals.