Howard Students Want Demands Met Hundreds of Howard University students, who participated in a loud protest rally outside the main administration building at the historically Black campus on Friday, gave university officials until this week to respond to their demands. Among the diverse complaints lodged by students were the slow pace of financial-aid paperwork, too-little on-campus housing, poor student services and questionable labor practices. “We love Howard,” Corey Briscoe, a 20-year-old junior and the director of student advocacy for the Howard University Student Association, told The Washington Post. “But this impinges on academic freedom.” Protestors, who threatened to sit in at the administration building until they got acceptable answers from university leaders – a formal response, in writing – gave them until Wednesday. Classes at the Washington, D.C., campus began two weeks ago. “I can [now] go to class,” junior Vanessa Ray, told Myfoxdc.com. “But there will be a purge date, and, if I’m still not validated at that time – if they haven’t certified my loan by that time – I’ll be kicked out of school.” That was also Najauna Muschetta’s complaint. “I think… day to day, okay, am I going to be purged?” she said. “Am I still going to be able to go to my classes? Will I still be able to live in my room? And, you know, that’s stressful!” Britney Wilson, a sophomore from Brooklyn who has cerebral palsy, said that she finds it difficult to access most of the buildings on campus in her electric scooter because the power buttons to open the doors rarely work. Administrators have met with student leaders and said they are taking the students’ concerns “very seriously.” President Sidney Ribeau has promised to meet with some of the protesters today.

Black College Gets Water, Reopens
Historically Black Morris Brown College is back in business after paying $100,000 toward its water bill to the city of Atlanta. The 127-year-old campus had asked the court to order the city to turn its water back on, saying it would never be able to meet its financial obligations with the doors closed. On Friday, Superior Court Judge Henry Newkirk ruled that the college had one more chance to deal with the $380,000 bill it owed the Atlanta Department of Watershed Management, some of which dated back four years. Read the rest here.

Airline Apologizes for Booting Muslim Passengers
AirTran Airways, which kicked nine Muslims off a New Year’s Day flight to Florida, apologized to the passengers and announced that it would reimburse them for tickets they purchased for another airliner. They were booted after other passengers reported hearing a suspicious remark about airplane security. “We apologize to all of the passengers — to the nine who had to undergo extensive interviews from the authorities and to the 95 who ultimately made the flight,” the statement said. “Nobody on Flight 175 reached their destination on time on New Year’s Day, and we regret it.” The group of Muslims had just sat down when they approached by federal air marshals and escorted off the plane, as passengers glared at them suspiciously, The Associated Press reports. Read the rest here.