Friday Morning Scoop: Occupy Howard

Howard Students Occupy Administration Building In Wake of Embezzlement Scandal

Howard students bring back the spirit of Occupy. (Image:Twitter/Aimee Cho NBC4)

Howard University students piled into the school’s administration building yesterday and remained there as of this morning, demanding the resignation university President Wayne A.I. Frederick, after details of a financial aid scandal were exposed.

An anonymous Medium post, which has now been removed,  was published yesterday, accusing Frederick of knowing about the embezzlement of nearly $1 million for almost a year. Six employees who were accused of “double dipping” financial aid funds were fired, but university officials made no announcement of the action.

Students posted signs with a list of demands — including greater transparency and more student authority — outside the building and as of the morning, remained inside as the school announced classes were cancelled for the day.

They used social media to outline the reasons behind the protest and to call for solidarity.  Rhianna was one of the many who responded, retweeting a video showing the students singing her song “Bitch Better Have My Money.”

More details are in CMN’s report. 

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150 Million MyFitnessPal Accounts Hacked

Under Armour announced yesterday that data from nearly 150 million of its MyFitnessPal fitness app accounts were compromised last month, making the hack one of the biggest ever. User names, emails and passwords were compromised, but Social Security info, driver license and credit card data were not believed to have been hacked.

Reuters reports that Under Armour “is working with data security firms and law enforcement, but did not provide details on how the hackers got into its network or pulled out the data without getting caught in the act.”

Today in a Tweet 

Outrage over the killing of #StephonClark continues, a day after his funeral and more calls for protests in Sacramento, CA.  

David Hogg Refuses Fox News Host’s Apology

Parkland shooting survivor turned gun-control advocate David Hogg refused Fox News host Laura Ingraham’s public Twitter apology yesterday, which came after she retweeted a story about his college rejections. Hogg believed the apology was a publicized stunt to appease Ingraham’s sponsors, some of whom dumped her after the retweet.

Hogg, one of the prominent student activists leading the March for Our Lives campaign for gun control, admitted to TMZ on Tuesday that he had received his rejection letters from UCLA, UC Santa Barbara, UC Irvine and UC San Diego several weeks ago. He also disclosed that fellow Parkland survivor and activist Ryan Deitsch’s application to UCLA was also declined.

Rachel Chan has more in her report for CMN. 

Minneapolis Ice Cream Shop Renames Flavors After Influential Women

An upscale ice cream shop in Minneapolis called Milkjam Creamery is doing something special for women’s history month to honor the inspiring women of the past and present. They have renamed all of their ice cream flavors after influential women.

This isn’t the first time they’ve done this for women’s history month, as last year they did as well, but they have a new batch of famous women they’re naming their flavors after this year, and each one works perfectly.

Caitlin Wills has all the details in her CMN report. 

Last But Not Least: The NFL Gets Its First-Ever Male Cheerleaders

NFL broke historical grounds when the Los Angeles Rams announced that two male cheerleaders would be joining their cheerleading squad.

Quinton Peron and Napolean Jinnies are classically-trained dancers and were among the 76 finalists in the Rams auditions. In an interview with Good Morning America, Peron said, “I thought, ‘Why not me? Why can’t I do this?’

CMN’s Evguenia Gololobova has the inspiring story. 

Today’s Morning Scoop was compiled by Caitlin Wills, Rachel Chan, Evguenia Gololobova, and the CMN Staff. Final Four weekend is finally here. And yes, we emphasize weekend.