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  Via WSWS :  Howard University in Washington D.C. has been awarded a five-year, $90 million contract by the US Department of Defense and the US Air Force to fund a research center dedicated to developing advanced technology for the military. The center will be one of the Pentagon’s 15 officially designated UARCs (University Affiliated Research Centers) and the first to be based at a historically black college/university (HBCU), a dubious “honor” that was announced with great fanfare on January 23 by university President Wayne A.I. Frederick. Of course, the academic perspective tries to invoke diversity: Howard’s partnership with the most reactionary and bloodstained institution on the planet is presented as a progressive advance for “people of color.” Speaking to The Dig, Howard Professor Bruce Jones explained, “There is a dearth of people of color going into these areas of tactical autonomy, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and cyber security… This [contract] enabl...

 In one word: protests. As in, " Students from Howard University protest their less-than-stellar living conditions :" Protester Tia-Andrea Scott expressed concerns over accounts of students coughing up blood and experiencing mold in the walls of their dorms. She said university officials were invited to a town hall on Tuesday night but instead of showing up, they sent police officers instead. “This isn’t how we should be treated by our university. Howard University is supposed to be illustrious” Scott continued. “But when it comes to protecting the people that are here, and Black issues, clearly they’re not meeting us…unless media presence or unless everyone is watching.” Video shared on social media shows Howard students blasting the school over the lack of COVID testing and the mold inside the dorms. While I'm sure these issues (and others) have been building up for some time, events like these protests -in addition to the strikes that have been popping up across Americ...