As the next executive of Florida A&M University, Interim President Timothy Beard will be tasked with managing the backlash over the school’s apparent failure to sufficiently vet a multimillion dollar donation from a dubious donor.

Beard will take office at a time of increasing political pressure on higher education in Florida, and as state officials are scrutinizing programs at the university that they see as underperforming.

Beard previously served as the president of Pasco-Hernando State College north of Tampa and earned a Ph.D. from Florida State University. He also holds a bachelor’s degree from FAMU, where he worked as a professor and administrator, according to the university.

An HBCU that has climbed in the national rankings in recent years, FAMU and its devoted alumni network have long prided the institution on graduating some of the state’s top Black professionals and politicians — and giving first-generation students and those from low-income families a fighting shot at the middle class. But the school has also been troubled by the recent donation debacle and previous allegations of mismanagement.

“In my opinion, Dr. Beard has the academic pedigree, administrative experience, political capital and emotional intelligence to lead in this interim period,” FAMU Board Chair Kristin Harper said.

The board of FAMU voted Tuesday to confirm Beard as interim president, on the condition that he not apply to become the school’s permanent president. Beard is scheduled to take the helm on Aug. 5, pending contract negotiations.

Beard’s position is subject to confirmation by the state’s Board of Governors. A spokesperson did not immediately respond to questions about when the board would meet to vote on Beard’s nomination.

Sitting president Dr. Larry Robinson will stay on the job through Aug. 4, allowing him to preside over a final student commencement on Aug. 2.

At a graduation ceremony in May, Robinson stood on stage in his academic regalia holding a jumbo check for $237 million — which would have been the single largest private donation to an HBCU, if it ever materialized. An outside investigation into the donation is ongoing.

Heathington, 25, created the multigenerational mix, which has received more than 950,000 views on TikTok and 10 million on YouTube, in January 2023 in his childhood bedroom in Upper Marlboro, Maryland.

Megan Thee Stallion pfirst performed the mashup two months later at the AT&T Block Party in her hometown of Houston.

“A stranger sent me a message on Instagram telling me that Megan was performing the song right now,” Heathington said. “I didn’t even know this person and then they sent me a screen recording from AT&T’s livestream of the event. I also had a few friends in the audience that recorded it live on their phones.”

Heathington started teaching himself how to produce music in 2019. He began to take his craft seriously in 2020 once the coronavirus pandemic forced him to take online classes and stay confined to his college apartment.

Heathington and his roommates listened to albums for hours, and light bulbs would consistently go off in his mind about songs that could possibly jell together. In 2021, he began mashing up and mixing hits from across the decades.

“I feel like I was experiencing a Pharrell [Williams] or a Kanye [West] in their early days,” Heathington’s college roommate Samuel Folaranmi said. “I’m just grateful to be a part of the experience.”

The Los Angeles native enrolled in his first piano lesson at 5 years old. During his childhood, his Sierra Leonean mother also found him a violin teacher and conducted singing lessons with Heathington at home.

“It’s really helped me to hone my ear,” Heathington said. “I can tell when something is wrong and it helps me to be that much more clean in my production.”

Heathington’s family moved to Upper Marlboro in 2009. He stuck with the violin through 12th grade, when he constantly auditioned for the band at school and made first chair. Heathington said he enjoyed learning key and time signatures and takes pride in knowing how to read music.

While studying history at North Carolina A&T, Heathington said, he experienced a “musical revelation” after being introduced to music from South Carolina, Georgia, Florida and songs deemed Black classics he had never heard before.

Being a former church choir performer himself, Heathington drifted toward members of the university’s gospel choir and talked about gospel playlists with them in exchange for introducing them to different sounds from his hometown. Heathington also began to listen to DJ sets at campus parties, seeing how crowds reacted to certain songs and analyzing why DJs chose their song order.

Heathington’s original setup consisted of a laptop with a broken screen connected to his television with a HDMI cord and a free trial of producing software from FL Studio. He began experimenting with stock sounds but with versions of the software costing from $99-$499, as a struggling college student Heathington had to make do.

“I watched him finesse that original setup he had,” Folaranmi said. “It really speaks to his dedication. The fact that he didn’t see that as an obstacle really showed me that the love for the music was there, and it’s like as a friend how can I not support that.”

Heathington released his first mashup, which blended rapper Young Dolph’s “Rain Rain” and SWV’s 1998 hit “Rain,” in April 2022 on TikTok. The mashup, which received 61,000 views, would be the beginning of a spike in followers and subscribers for the musician on TikTok, YouTube and Instagram.

“I saw a couple of people that were doing it on TikTok, and honestly I just felt like I could do it better than them,” Heathington said. “I started coming up with different things that I thought would fit. When I do a mashup, I want it to make sense.”

Heathington’s first viral mix, which blended Beyoncé’s “Check On It” and New Orleans bounce music, now has more than 730,000 views on TikTok. The mix is used on TikTok as background music for everything from videos of digital influencers restocking items in their homes to videos of simulating sensory content to dance challenges.

Professional makeup artist turned social influencer Jackie Aina also used Heathington’s Beyoncé mix on one of her viral grocery restock videos, attracting 3.8 million views.

“I always expected Arnett to blow up,” Heathington’s childhood best friend Efeohe Suleman said. “It was just a matter of time, and I just feel like it had to get into the right spaces with the right people. Everything now it’s just aligning properly.”

Rapper Flo Milli was the first celebrity to acknowledge Heathington’s work, for his mashup of her song “Hottie” with rapper Nicki Minaj’s “Check It Out.” Rappers Sexxy Red, Offset, Latto and 2Rare also have interacted with Heathington’s music on various social channels.

However, Heathington said Megan Thee Stallion’s acknowledgment meant the most to him.

A month before Megan Thee Stallion performed the young producer’s mashup in Houston, DJ Esentrik’s mashup of Beyoncé’s song “Cuff It” and rapper Twista’s 2009 hit “Wetter” went viral on TikTok. Beyoncé then released the mashup with Esentrik’s help with new vocals and chords.

Around the time of Heathington’s and Esentrik’s viral mashups, TikTok announced that more than 150 million Americans use the app. More than 1 billion videos are viewed on the app daily, according to Social Champ, a social media management tool.

With so many eyes on TikTok, Heathington said, he believes it will be the breeding ground for a new generation of producers.

While trying to navigate his digital audience, Heathington said he believes creators on Instagram and X, formerly known as Twitter, have to rely on followers and mutual users to repost their work, while on TikTok, the “For You” page helps reach the masses.

“To me, TikTok is the ultimate social media,” Heathington said. “You can post something right now and in an hour it could have 200,000 likes.”

As the Megan Thee Stallion and Sweat mashup began to gain traction on YouTube, Heathington lost his ability to earn money from ads on the global site because the songs being used to create the mixes were not his original works.

A YouTube video with 10 million views like Hetherington’s can earn the creator from $25,000-$300,000 depending on the advertisements the site inserts into the video. Before he was demonetized, he earned roughly $1,000 from YouTube, he said.

TikTok has even stricter policies on copyright infringement and content deemed “unoriginal,” which has kept Heathington from starting the process to earn money on the app by joining the Creator Fund. 

Heathington is an audiovisual support assistant for the World Bank by day and relies on that salary for his daily expenses, but he said the money he is missing out on from his social channels will come back to him once he begins releasing original songs.

“His authenticity is what is going to take him far. He pours his art and soul into figuring out what sounds good and what doesn’t,” Suleman said. “He loves it and he looks at producing his best work as a form of self-love, and I think people can feel that emotion.”

Heathington plans to release an album featuring a mix of R&B, hip-hop and rap with tracks he has produced, original rapping and singing with a few features at the end of the summer.

“Honestly, the time is now,” Heathington said. “My mashups have brought millions of eyes to other people’s music, and it’s time for me to do that for myself. Right now, it’s being meticulously crafted for everyone’s enjoyment.”

“Mr. Combs’ behavior as captured in a recently released video is so fundamentally incompatible with Howard University’s core values and beliefs that he is deemed no longer worthy to hold the institution’s highest honor,” a statement from the university’s board of trustees said.

The statement said the board voted unanimously Friday to accept the return of the honorary degree Combs received in 2014. “This acceptance revokes all honors and privileges associated with the degree. Accordingly, the Board has directed that his name be removed from all documents listing honorary degree recipients of Howard University,” it said.

The board also directed university administrators to cut financial ties to Combs, including returning a $1 million contribution, ending the scholarship program and dissolving a 2023 pledge agreement with the Sean Combs Foundation.

An email seeking comment was sent to a Combs spokesperson by The Associated Press on Saturday.

Combs admitted last month that he beat his ex-girlfriend Cassie in a hotel hallway in 2016 after CNN released video of the attack. In a video statement posted on social media, he said he was “truly sorry” and his actions were “inexcusable.”

“I take full responsibility for my actions in that video. I was disgusted then when I did it. I’m disgusted now,” Combs said.

A lawsuit filed last year by Cassie, whose legal name is Cassandra Ventura, set off a wave of similar cases and public allegations against Combs. That lawsuit was settled.

“I support peaceful nonviolent protest,” he told students at the all-male college, some of whom wore Palestinian scarves known as keffiyehs around their shoulders on top of their black graduation gowns. “Your voices should be heard, and I promise you I hear them.”

Biden said there’s a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, “that’s why I’ve called for an immediate cease-fire to stop the fighting” and bring home hostages still being held by Hamas after its militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. The president’s comments came near the end of a commencement address in which he also reflected on American democracy and his role in safeguarding it.

“It’s one of the hardest, most complicated problems in the world,” Biden said. “There’s nothing easy about it. I know it angers and frustrates many of you, including my family. But most of all I know it breaks your heart. It breaks mine as well.”

To date, Biden had limited his public comments around the protests on U.S. college campuses to upholding the right to peaceful protest.

The speech — and a separate one he gave later Sunday in Detroit — are part of a burst of outreach to Black constituents by the Democratic president, whose support among these voters has softened since their strong backing helped put him in the Oval Office.

Biden spent much of the approximately 30-minute speech focused on the problems at home. He condemned Donald Trump’s rhetoric on immigrants and noted that the class of 2024 entered college during the COVID-19 pandemic and following the murder of George Floyd, a Black man killed by a Minneapolis police officer. Biden said it was natural for them, and others, to wonder whether the democracy “you hear about actually works for you.”

“If Black men are being killed in the street. What is democracy?” he asked. “The trail of broken promises that still leave Black communities behind. What is democracy? If you have to be 10 times better than anyone else to get a fair shot.”

Anti-war protests have roiled America’s college campuses. Columbia University canceled its main commencement ceremony. At Morehouse, the announcement that Biden would be the commencement speaker drew some backlash among the faculty and those who oppose the president’s handling of the war. Some Morehouse alumni circulated an online letter condemning administrators for inviting Biden and solicited signatures to pressure Morehouse President David Thomas to rescind it.

The letter claimed that Biden’s approach to Israel amounted to support of genocide in Gaza and was out of step with the pacifism expressed by civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr., Morehouse’s most famous graduate.

The Hamas attack on southern Israel killed 1,200 people. Israel’s offensive has killed more than 35,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to health officials in the territory.

In the end, there were no disruptions of Morehouse’s commencement while applause for Biden mostly was subdued. At least seven graduates and one faculty member sat with their backs turned during Biden’s address, and another student draped himself in a Palestinian flag. Protesters near the ceremony carried signs that said “Free Palestine,” “Save the Children” and “Ceasefire Now” as police on bikes kept watch.

On stage behind the president as he spoke, academics unfurled a Congolese flag. The African country has been mired in a civil war, and many racial justice advocates have called for greater attention to the conflict as well as American help in ending the violence.

During his speech, valedictorian DeAngelo Jeremiah Fletcher, of Chicago, said it was his duty to speak on the war in Gaza and recognize that both Palestinians and Israelis have suffered. He called for an “immediate and permanent cease-fire in the Gaza Strip.”

Graduate Kingsley John said, “the temperature on campus was expected given we had the president of the United States come and speak.” John said he stood “in solidarity” with his classmates and that Biden “seemed to be reflective and open to hear the feedback.”

Morehouse awarded Biden an honorary doctor of laws degree. After accepting the honor, he joked that, “I’m not going home” as chants of “four more years” broke out in the audience. Biden then flew to Detroit to address thousands attending the local NAACP chapter’s annual Freedom Fund dinner.

Georgia and Michigan are among a handful of states that will help decide November’s expected rematch between Biden and Trump. Biden narrowly won Georgia and Michigan in 2020 and he needs strong Black voter turnout in Atlanta and Detroit if he hopes to repeat in November.

Biden spent part of the past week reaching out to Black constituents. He highlighted key moments in the Civil Rights Movement, from the 70th anniversary of the landmark 1954 Supreme Court decision in the case of Brown v. Board of Education that outlawed racial segregation in public schools to the Little Rock Nine, who helped integrate a public school in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1957. He also met with members of the “Divine Nine” Black fraternities and sororities.

At the NAACP dinner, Biden told a largely Black crowd that numbered into the thousands that Trump wants to pardon those who were convicted of crimes during the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and calls them “patriots.” He suggested that Trump would not have been so kind had they been Black people.

“Let me ask you, what do you think he would’ve done on Jan. 6 if Black Americans had stormed the Capitol?” Biden asked. “What do you think? I can only imagine.”

Asked for a response, Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt blasted Biden’s remarks as “preposterous,” describing them as a “desperate” attempt to divert attention from Biden’s own record of weak poll numbers, high inflation and “violent protests and migrant crimes” across the country.

The speech gave Biden a chance to reach thousands of people in Wayne County, which historically has voted overwhelmingly Democratic but has shown signs of resistance to his reelection bid.

The county also holds one of the largest Arab American populations in the nation, predominantly in the city of Dearborn. Leaders there were at the forefront of an “uncommitted” effort that received over 100,000 votes in the state’s Democratic primary and spread across the country.

A protest rally and march against Biden’s visit took place in Dearborn in the afternoon.

In Detroit, guests at the NAACP dinner were met by over 200 pro-Palestinian protesters outside the entrance to the convention center. They waved Palestinian flags, held signs calling for a cease-fire and chanted “free, free Palestine.”

“Until Joe Biden listens to his key constituents, he’s risking handing the presidency to Donald Trump,” said Lexi Zeidan, a protest leader who help spearhead a protest effort that resulted in over 100,000 people voting “uncommitted” in February’s Democratic primary.

Associated Press writers Joey Cappelletti in Lansing, Michigan, and Colleen Long and Mark Sherman in Washington contributed to this report.

The White House confirmed Tuesday that Biden would speak May 19 at the alma mater of civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr., and then address the graduating class at the United States Military Academy at West Point on May 25.

The Morehouse announcement has drawn some backlash among the school’s faculty and supporters who are critical of Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war. That could put the White House and Biden’s reelection campaign in a difficult position as the president works to shore up the racially diverse coalition that propelled him to the Oval Office.

By Tuesday afternoon, some Morehouse alumni were circulating an online letter that condemns the administration’s invitation to Biden and seeking signatures to pressure Morehouse President David Thomas to rescind it.

The letter, obtained by The Associated Press, claimed Biden’s approach to Israel effectively supports genocide in Gaza and runs counter to the pacifism that King expressed with his opposition to the Vietnam War.

“In inviting President Biden to campus, the college affirms a cruel standard that complicity in genocide merits no sanction from the institution that produced one of the towering advocates for nonviolence of the twentieth century,” the letter states, emphasizing King’s stance that “war is a hell that diminishes” humanity as a whole. “If the college cannot affirm this noble tradition of justice by rescinding its invitation to President Biden, then the college should reconsider its attachment to Dr. King.”

Late last week, before the school and the White House formally announced commencement plans, Morehouse Provost Kendrick Brown, Thomas’ top lieutenant, sent an email to all faculty acknowledging concerns about “rumors” and affirming that the school issued the invitation to Biden last September. That would have been before Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, spurring the sustained counter-offensive that the Morehouse alumni letter called an act of genocide against Palestinians. Brown’s email did not reference anything about the Middle East conflict.

Brown invited faculty to an online forum, scheduled for Thursday afternoon, to discuss the matter. But, he added: “Please know going into this conversation that the College does not plan to rescind its accepted invitation to President Biden.”

Morehouse officials have not responded to an Associated Press inquiry.

Asked about the concerns from some faculty members, White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates said Biden is eager to speak at the school and added: “commencements are about the graduates, their families and their loved ones; about celebrating the accomplishments of the graduates.”

“I’m not going to weigh in on processes happening at Morehouse, but he looks forward to going there and celebrating with the graduates,” Bates said.

Earlier Tuesday, Thomas released a statement to BET.com that, like the provost’s faculty letter, highlighted the September timing of the invitation to Biden.

Thomas said Morehouse officials “eagerly anticipate” the president’s visit, which he called “a reminder of our institution’s enduring legacy and impact, as well as our continued commitment to excellence, progress and positive change.”

The Rev. Stephen Green, pastor of the St. Luke AME Church in Harlem and an author of the alumni letter, said in an interview that his group has reached out to several Morehouse trustees and hopes to speak with Thomas. Green, who graduated in 2014, called the effort part of a “common thread of protest and activism in the Morehouse tradition” of social and political engagement.

“We hope this would send a strong message that we are serious about the values were were taught,” Green said, adding that he wants to see Biden forcefully advocate for a Palestinian state and Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

Beyond any dissatisfaction over Israel, polling suggests Biden may have work to do with Black Americans generally. More than half of Black adults approve of how he is handling his job as president, according to an AP-NORC poll conducted in March, but that’s down significantly from when he took office and 94% approved of his performance.

Biden has increasingly encountered protests this year from progressives who assert that he is too supportive of Israel. The issue has proven vexing for the president. He has long joined the U.S. foreign policy establishment in embracing Israel as an indispensable Middle East ally. Yet he also has criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for mounting civilian deaths in Gaza and told him that future U.S. aid depends on Israel taking steps to protect civilians.

The approach has left Biden with vocal critics to his left and right at a time when he has little margin for error in battleground states, including Georgia, that are expected to decide his rematch with Trump.

Biden’s speech at Morehouse will mark the second consecutive spring that the president has spoken to the graduating class of a historically Black school. In 2023, he delivered the commencement address at Howard University. The Washington, D.C., school is the alma mater of Vice President Kamala Harris, the first Black woman to hold that office. Morehouse, a private all-male school that is part of the multi-campus Atlanta University Center, also is the alma mater of Sen. Raphael Warnock, Georgia’s first Black U.S. senator.

Warnock, who also is senior pastor of King’s Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, sidestepped any consternation on campus.

“I could not be more thrilled and honored to see President Biden return to our great state,” the senator said in a statement. “I know the president will have a timely, poignant, forward-looking message for the men of Morehouse.”

The controversy threatens to overshadow the policy priorities that Biden and Democrats have highlighted for months on HBCU campuses around the country. Harris and Cabinet members have spoken on several campuses. Among other policy achievements and priorities, the White House touts increases in federal money support for HBCUs; Biden’s efforts to forgive up to $10,000 in student loan burden per borrower and increase Pell Grants for low-income students; energy investments to combat the climate crisis, and Democrats’ support for abortion rights and decriminalizing marijuana possession.

Warnock, in his reaction to Biden’s invitation, played up his work with the president “to address the high costs of higher education.”

Reflecting the nation’s overall racial gaps in income and net worth, Black college students are disproportionately dependent on Pell Grants, which typically cover only a fraction of college costs, and student loans. According to Federal Reserve data, about 1 out of 3 Black households has student loan debt, compared to about 1 in 5 white households. The average Black borrower also is carrying about $10,000 more in debt than the average white borrower. Additionally, federal statistics show about 60% of Black undergraduates receive Pell Grants, compared to about 40% of the overall undergraduate population and a third of white students.

In 2020, Biden won Georgia by fewer than 12,000 votes over Trump out of about 5 million ballots cast. The combined enrollment at Morehouse and its adjoining schools that make up the Atlanta University Center is about 9,000 students. Biden’s margin in Wisconsin was less than 21,000 votes. The president had more comfortable margins in Michigan and Pennsylvania but cannot afford to lose Black support across the metro areas of Detroit and Philadelphia.

Among states Trump won, Biden is targeting North Carolina, which has a notable Black college student population. Trump’s margin there was about 75,000 votes.

___

Kim reported from Washington. Associated Press reporter Darren Sands contributed.

The legislation cleared the state GOP-controlled House on Thursday in a 66-25 vote, and Lee signed off a few hours later without commenting on the controversial decision to vacate the board. He instead praised TSU as a “remarkable institution” as he unveiled that he already had selected 10 new replacements.

“I’m pleased to appoint these highly qualified individuals who will work alongside administrators and students to further secure TSU’s place as a leading institution,” Lee said.

The new appointees, largely from the business community, are now subject to confirmation by the Legislature. Their selection will be critical as TSU is already seeking a new leader because President Glenda Glover plans to retire at the end of this school year.

“All we’re talking about is the board … It’s vacating some personalities and bringing others in,” House Majority Leader William Lamberth told reporters. “The goal is to make TSU successful.”

Republican leaders have long grumbled about TSU’s leadership as multiple state audits have found student housing shortages, unsustainable scholarship increases and lingering financial discrepancies. Audits released Thursday morning ahead of the House vote found 56 “significant procedural deficiencies” ranging from the school failing to follow its own procedures to not properly documenting transactions or identifying improvements to its budgeting procedures.

However, one review stated that it “did not identify evidence indicative of fraud or malfeasance by executive leadership.”

Democrats and others say Republicans are focusing on the wrong issues, pointing out that TSU’s problems are primarily due to its being underfunded by an estimated $2.1 billion over the last three decades. They also allege that the majority-white Legislature distrusts a Black-controlled university’s ability to manage itself.

Rep. Bo Mitchell, a Democrat whose district includes TSU, also questioned removing the board of a historically Black college that the state has failed to adequately fund. “I’ve seen many audits of many universities that look horrendous,” Mitchell said. “Have we ever, ever vacated an entire board of a university before? Have we ever done that?”

Multiple Democrats filed last minute motions and amendments that would have delayed the vote or cut the number of board seats to be vacated to five rather than 10. Ultimately, the GOP supermajority voted down each of the proposals.

“Instead of us rectifying the problems that we created through racist policies by underfunding Tennessee State University, we’re now advocating to vacate their board,” said Rep. Justin Pearson, a Democrat from Memphis, raising his voice as he criticized his Republican colleagues.

Last year, the Tennessee Legislature provided TSU with a lump sum of $250 million for infrastructure projects to help fix a portion of the shortfall.

Republican Rep. Ryan Williams said that money was “completely blown through” after officials gave too many student scholarships, so many that students were placed in hotels because there wasn’t enough housing. Other universities, including University of Tennessee in Knoxville, have also been required to house some students temporarily in hotels without the same criticism from state lawmakers.

“The challenges are dire,” Williams said. “But we have to have assurances that future investment, or that remedy to this problem, is going to be well taken care of.”

TSU supporters and students watched from the galleries Thursday and cheered at times when Democrats criticized the bill. Some booed Republicans once the legislation cleared, while others lamented at the Legislature’s punishing response to the university’s challenges.

“We have people who realize it takes a bridge sometimes to get where you’re trying to go,” Barry Barlow, a pastor and TSU grad, said during a news conference after the vote. “But we have people in the Tennessee General Assembly who will take your bridge of promise and stick dynamite to it.”

Associated Press writer Jonathan Mattise contributed to this report.

Woodson-Smith will be inducted into the National Wheelchair Basketball Association Hall of Fame on April 13 at the Virginia War Memorial in Richmond, Virginia.

“I’m still on cloud nine about it [getting inducted],” Woodson-Smith told Andscape. “The time is getting closer and closer, and I’m just really excited about it. To get inducted in Richmond, my hometown, it’s just astronomical. Nothing else can really touch this at this moment.”

Her journey to the hall of fame is indicative of “staying the course,” she said.

Woodson-Smith was a sophomore basketball player at James Madison University in Virginia when she was diagnosed with arthritis in both hips. Upon receiving her diagnosis, she told the doctors to “fix it” because she wasn’t willing to give up the sport she loved.

With modifications in her training, Woodson-Smith was able to still play basketball at James Madison, but it didn’t come without a cost.

“I dealt with so much pain during my sophomore and junior years,” Woodson-Smith said. “Most people probably wouldn’t have played with the pain I was in. By my senior year, my coach and I decided it was best not to play and to start volunteering as a student coach.

“Losing my senior year was difficult. At that point, the game was stripped away from me, and it took me 10 to 13 years to get over that.”

That was until Woodson-Smith discovered a different way to play the sport she loved that accommodated her disability.

She was introduced to wheelchair basketball at Texas Woman’s University, where she was recruited to play on the women’s wheelchair basketball team while pursuing a doctorate in adapted physical education.

According to the National Wheelchair Basketball Association, the sport originated in 1946 with several World War II veterans who were being treated for paralysis. In 1949, the association was founded by Tim Nugent, a disability rights activist who started the first adaptive sports programs at the University of Illinois. Mainly men played wheelchair basketball until 1977, when future hall of fame inductee Robert Szyman proposed the creation of a women’s division to association delegates.

In 2004, Woodson-Smith was selected as a member of the U.S. Paralympic women’s wheelchair basketball team and she was named the MVP of the 2005 National Women’s Wheelchair Basketball Tournament. According to Move United, an affiliate of the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee, she also participated on the 2006 World Cup team, which won a silver medal; the 2010 World Cup team, which won gold; the 2011 Parapan American team, which also won gold; and finished her career on the 2012 U.S. Paralympic women’s wheelchair basketball team.

“Andrea was an amazing teammate,” said Darlene Hunter, Woodson-Smith’s teammate from the 2012 U.S. Paralympic team. “She always made sure you had fun on and off the court. She pushed you to be the best you could be but also was an amazing support system.”

After retiring from wheelchair basketball following the 2012 Paralympic Games, Woodson-Smith now teaches and serves as the interim chair of the department of kinesiology and recreation administration at North Carolina Central.

“Not only does she lead by example, but she is truly relatable and truly cares for her students beyond the classroom,” said Hannah Brodie, one of Woodson-Smith’s students. “She is a top-tier educator, which is why I have pursued higher education at NCCU.”

Woodson-Smith believes the media coverage of disabilities in sports isn’t where it should be. According to Disability Studies Quarterly, the journal of the Society for Disability Studies, the exclusion of women and athletes with disabilities in sports media is true for print and web media, books and television shows.

More publicity is needed for wheelchair basketball to grow, she said.

“I always look at sports networks and see things like poker and cornhole. But we never see any sports shown of people with disabilities,” she said. “Track and field and wheelchair basketball are the two most popular sports within the disability community, and to not have those broadcasted in the U.S., especially when it is broadcasted in Europe, put a damper on who we are as athletes here in the U.S. 

“When the U.S. sports realm starts to recognize the importance of people with disabilities in sports, I think we’ll start to see some growth.”

Nonetheless, friends and family constantly remind Woodson-Smith of the impact she has had on the wheelchair basketball community and people with disabilities.

“Oh my goodness … it’s been a long time coming for her,” said Jeremy Smith, Woodson-Smith’s husband. “I’m looking forward to the honor, the glory, and the recognition for everything she’s done. Not only is she a champion of wheelchair basketball, but specifically for women, she’s a champion of the cause.”

In 2022, the sisters founded TheBamGrp, a company designed to inspire youth by creating basketball-related programs to develop leadership skills and provide professional opportunities. Since then, the sisters have launched the first Queen City All-Star Game for high school athletes in Charlotte, hosted a basketball summer camp sponsored by Chicago Bulls forward Patrick Williams and inducted two cohorts of interns to assist with events.

The next event for TheBamGrp is its annual Winter Classic showcase, a two-day basketball tournament that features high school basketball teams from Virginia, New York and North Carolina. This year’s tournament will take place Thursday and Friday at Olympic High School. 

“We’re excited for this tournament to kick off,” said Aliyah Terry, who is a third-year computer engineering student North Carolina A&T. Her sister graduated from North Carolina A&T in the spring of 2021.

“So much work really goes into pulling all of this together. We have to hire referees, make sure we have enough teams, and overall just make sure everything runs smoothly. It’s hard work, but it always pays off.”

TheBamGrp interns conduct player interviews, create social media posts and work in photography. They say the Terry sisters provide opportunities to gain experience in sports and entertainment.

“Getting a sports internship can be hard, so I’m thankful I have the chance to be a BamGrp intern,” Mekhi Young said. “I’ve learned how to navigate a sports event, which is a lot more than I initially thought.”

Interns also say they appreciate how much TheBamGrp feels like a family and not always work. There is an emphasis on connecting beyond basketball, which doesn’t go unnoticed.

“It’s more than hoops – it’s about heart,” intern Yangelis Martinez said. “Our game goes beyond the court. We embrace each player’s journey with joy and understanding.”

Basketball has been a part of the sisters’ lives for as long as they can remember. They recall watching their father, Baronton Terry, pace up and down the sideline when he coached at West Charlotte High School as their mother, Makeda Terry, cheered the team on from the bleachers.

“I’ve been a basketball coach most of my life, so my girls have always been around the sport,” said Baronton Terry, now associate head men’s basketball coach at Chicago State University. “I’m happy they’re building their own legacy through basketball. I’m their father, so they know they’ll always have my support.”

The journey from making the shots to calling the shots was not easy, but the Terry sisters believed that with their background in basketball and entrepreneurial mindsets, anything was achievable.

“The idea of branching out and creating your own business is a little scary,” Moriah Terry said. “But at the end of the day, when you’re passionate about something, you find a way to have it in your life. I knew my playing days for basketball were over, but there was no way I wasn’t going to be involved with this sport in some shape or form.”

Over the next one to two years, the sisters hope TheBamGrp can break into collegiate sports, focusing on historically Black colleges and universities. One of their ultimate goals is to host an HBCU basketball tournament in Atlanta by 2024 to showcase Black colleges’ talent on a bigger stage and in a marketable area.

“We feel like our education at North Carolina A&T has helped us get to where we are today, so of course we’d want to showcase HBCUs,” Aliyah Terry said. “It’s important to give back to the institutions that served you, and that’s exactly what we plan to do.”

Police released surveillance video late Wednesday that shows several people walking in a grassy area. They are seeking the identities of “persons of interest” in Tuesday night’s shooting.

Earlier in the day, Police Commissioner Richard Worley said at least two people opened fire during a dispute between two groups at the university’s homecoming events, but the victims were likely not the shooters’ intended targets. Preliminary evidence indicates the shooters were targeting one person, who wasn’t among the victims, Worley said. All five are expected to survive.

Worley said a third person also pulled a gun during the dispute, though it wasn’t clear whether they pulled the trigger. He said ballistics testing will reveal how many shooters were ultimately involved.

Wednesday morning’s updates from police helped quell rumors circulating online about whether the attack was racially motivated or a planned school shooting on the historically Black university campus in northeast Baltimore.

University President David Wilson announced that all other homecoming events and classes for the remainder of the week, including Saturday’s football game, have been canceled. He said it marked the first cancellation of such events in the school’s history. Some students were seen leaving campus with duffel bags and suitcases Wednesday afternoon.

“Today, we unfortunately find ourselves navigating this tragic event during a time at which we should be celebrating,” Wilson said in a letter to the university community.

The shooting unfolded around 9:30 p.m., shortly after a coronation ceremony for this year’s Mister and Miss Morgan State in the campus auditorium. Attendees were walking from the auditorium to the student center for a coronation ball, which was about to begin when gunfire sent people scattering in fear.

The gunshot victims — four men and one woman — are between ages 18 and 22. Four are Morgan State students.

No arrests have been made yet.

City police and university officials initially warned students of an active shooter and ordered them to shelter in place for hours while SWAT officers went door to door searching for suspects. Worley said police heard gunshots and several dorm windows shattered, so officials initially thought there was an active shooter and acted accordingly.

On campus Wednesday afternoon, workers were replacing the windows and sweeping up broken glass while students milled about — some commenting on the evolving crime scene, which included blood splatters on a concrete walkway and yellow crime tape crisscrossing the adjacent courtyard. A neon sign at one campus entrance flashed: “Morgan family, Morgan strong.”

Emani Jones-Grant, a freshman from New Jersey, said that instead of visiting for homecoming weekend, her family was planning to pick her up Thursday. She said she’s enjoying college overall, but the shooting left her and others feeling shaken.

“The vibe is weird,” she said. “A lot of people are talking about leaving for the weekend.”

Michelle Newman said she drove down from New York after getting frantic calls from her daughter, a freshman, who was having a panic attack as the shooting unfolded Tuesday night, saying a bullet came through her dorm room window.

“She was hysterical,” Newman said. “She called to ask us what she was supposed to do.”

Newman said she planned to bring her daughter home where she would feel safe.

Previous Morgan State homecoming celebrations have also been subject to violence.

During a news conference on campus Wednesday, a reporter with the university’s student newspaper asked officials how they plan to address what has become a trend: Last October, a young man was shot during what officials called an unsanctioned homecoming after-party on the campus, and the year before, a freshman was arrested and charged with shooting his classmate over homecoming weekend.

Morgan State University Police Chief Lance Hatcher said the agency has taken “extraordinary measures to bring additional security resources to campus” in recent years, including increased police presence and surveillance camera coverage. University police officers heard the gunshots while patrolling the campus Tuesday night and responded almost immediately to render aid, officials said.

“Oftentimes you can’t stop a bad actor from doing bad acts, but we will continue to try to ensure the safety of our students,” he said.

Advocates and local leaders said the shooting highlights the drumbeat of trauma students are experiencing in schools across the country.

“It shouldn’t be lost on anyone that this shooting took place during homecoming week for a generation that has been raised on school shooting drills and mass shootings,” said Kris Brown, president of Brady, a nationwide group that advocates for stronger gun controls. “Gun violence has been a daily presence for this generation, and it is now following them into adulthood.”

According to CNN, Tuesday’s targets were Alcorn State University, Coppin State, Morgan State, Jackson State, Fort Valley State, Mississippi Valley State, Kentucky State, Spelman College, Tougaloo College, Howard University, Xavier University, the University of the District of Columbia and Edward Waters University.

Washington’s Howard University, which reported bomb threats Monday morning, said it received a new threat just before 3 a.m. Tuesday that named “multiple areas” of its main campus, and asked anyone present to shelter for more than two hours while the Metropolitan Police Department assisted Howard campus police in searching for explosives. No explosives were found.

“Initially, when I got the alert, I was anxious and scared,” said Christine McWhorter, a journalism professor in Howard’s Cathy Hughes School of Communications, to The Undefeated. “I followed the alerts as they went along. Once I got the all-clear, I felt a little more at ease. I know that with the work that Howard does [for diversity and social justice], it is not odd that these types of things are happening because there are people who want to stop the good work that the university is doing. By the time they gave the all-clear, I personally felt OK coming to work.”

Morgan State, the largest of Maryland’s HBCUs, advised everyone on its Baltimore campus to remain where they were amid a bomb threat and moved all classes online for the day as emergency personnel assessed the situation.

“Due to a bomb threat made earlier this morning, Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2022, @KyStateU is in lockdown status,” officials at Kentucky State in Frankfort, Kentucky, tweeted Tuesday. “The university is working with emergency personnel to evaluate the situation. University operations will be suspended until further notice & campus entry limited at this time.”

Coppin State, which received its threat shortly after 5 a.m. Tuesday, posted on its website that campus was closed, that classes will be held virtually and employees will be teleworking while Baltimore Police, campus police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation investigate the threat.

Nevertheless, a second all-clear in two days at Howard did not settle students’ fears about campus safety. Many took to social media to voice their frustration about the university’s decision not to cancel classes.

“Due to the recent bomb threats made to the main campus, I do not feel safe attending in-person classes. The handling of this situation is unsettling and does not create a safe environment for students or staff. Please understand my concerns and excuse this absence,” tweeted one Howard student who goes by the name @laymclovin.

On Monday, at least six HBCUs, including Howard, were subject to a series of similar threats, forcing campuswide lockdowns and the cancellation of classes.

Besides Howard, officials at Bowie State, Bethune-Cookman, Southern University, Delaware State and Albany State reported threats the day before the beginning of Black History Month, although it is unclear if there was any correlation. No explosive materials were found on any of the campuses that reported the threats. The Delaware State vs. Coppin State men’s basketball contest scheduled for Monday evening was postponed due to an emergency closure of the latter’s campus, although it is not clear if it had anything to do with the threats.

“Due to a bomb threat on campus, BSU will be closed temporarily today January 31, 2022,” Bowie State posted on its Twitter page. “Emergency personnel are evaluating the situation. All persons on campus are advised to shelter in place until further information is available. Employees will work virtually. Classes will be virtual. Please observe the BSU website for continual updates.”

According to Fox 5, officials at Bowie State said that the threat warned that explosives had been placed in a building on campus. Along with university authorities, Prince George’s County and Maryland State Police have launched an investigation into the threat.

“It doesn’t make me look at safety any differently,” Tamani Jemmott, a senior at Bowie State, told The Undefeated. “I think Bowie is handling this very well. Our RAs [resident assistants] went door to door checking on students, and everything was shut down immediately. I think the event is sad and unfortunate, especially so close to Black History Month.”

Similarly, Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, locked down its campus on Monday and canceled classes while authorities investigated.

“We are doing everything possible to ensure that our students and staff on campus are safe during this lockdown,” Southern president Ray L. Belton tweeted. “Law enforcement agencies continue to investigate this heinous threat.”

On Monday, Bethune-Cookman in Daytona Beach, Florida, lifted its lockdown by 9 a.m., but the school canceled classes for the remainder of the day. Daytona Beach Police said any signs of a bomb threat had been cleared, but they were still asking people to stay away from campus.

“We will have a heavy police presence on campus for the remainder of the day,” the Daytona Beach Police Department said on Twitter. “We will also be restricting any movement on the Bethune-Cookman campus. Officers will be staged at entry/exit points on the campus.”

The Metropolitan Police Department and Howard’s campus police issued an alert via social media at 4:35 a.m. Monday, warning students, staff and faculty of a bomb threat, naming the area near the Mordecai Wyatt Johnson Administration Building. No threats were found. The university issued a final all-clear at 6:22 a.m., around two hours after the threat was made, and decided to keep campus open.

“Make no mistake: We have remained on alert on campus since the very first threat and have not stopped our work of assessment and scaled surveillance for suspicious activity, in partnership with local and federal law enforcement. We are committed to, and confident in, the work of our on-campus police force and partnerships with regional agencies in ensuring safety and stability for our campus community,” the university said in a campus email.

However, after a semester in which the university was forced to temporarily cancel all of its online and hybrid undergraduate classes because of a ransomware attack, and was confronted with a monthlong protest by students over poor housing conditions, the mood on Howard’s campus was one of fear and frustration. Despite being told that it was safe to return to campus, The Yard, the school’s primary gathering spot for students on the main campus, was nearly empty on both Monday and Tuesday, as were many classrooms.

“I don’t feel safe, especially with this being the third time this year that Howard has had a bomb threat,” said senior Laniyah Collins. “Once again, I feel like Howard isn’t taking all the proper precautions that they could to ensure our safety from multiple dangers. The least they could’ve done was canceled classes today.”

White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters on Monday afternoon that President Joe Biden was aware of the threats received at HBCUs.

“I will say that these are certainly disturbing and the White House is in touch with interagency partners, including federal law enforcement leadership on this,” Psaki said during a White House press briefing on Monday.

Additionally, the acting deputy director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Thomas Chittum, told ABC News that agents from the bureau were responding to the threats. “We can confirm that ATF has responded,” Chittum said. “Of course, it is a federal crime to use interstate facilities to make a bomb threat, and so ATF will provide our investigative expertise and support to that investigation, but obviously, the facts are preliminary and unfolding.”

On Jan. 5, at least eight schools, including Howard, received similar threats, which also prompted lockdowns and evacuations. By the next day all threats had been cleared, however, the Black cultural center at the University of Utah received a bomb threat the following week, the Salt Lake Tribune reported. Officers have yet to identify a source or reason for the threats, but some speculate that they are racially driven.

“I think HBCUs are absolutely being targeted,” said Howard senior DaShawn Simon. “These threats are becoming a real hazard and are concerning to the student body. I hope we find out where this is coming from so authorities can put a stop to it.”

UPDATE — According to the Associated Press, at least six “persons of interest” have been identified in connection with Monday and Tuesday’s threats. A caller who threatened to blow up Bethune-Cookman described an elaborate plot involving seven bombs hidden in duffel bags and backpacks around the school’s perimeter, Daytona Beach Police Chief Jakari Young said at a news conference on Wednesday.

In a 20-minute phone call, the caller said the bombs containing C-4 explosives would be detonated at the university on Monday, Young said. The caller, who claimed to be part of the neo-Nazi group Atomwaffen Division (AWD), said a gunman would open fire on the campus around lunchtime the same day. No explosives or gunmen were found. So far, AWD has not released any statements claiming responsibility for the threats.

The Anti-Defamation League, an anti-hate organization, describes AWD as a small neo-Nazi group that became active in 2016. Since then, its members have been involved in white supremacist events and linked to violence, and several of its leaders have been convicted of federal crimes.