Winston-Salem State University (WSSU) is making sweeping changes to its upcoming homecoming, citing safety concerns and logistical challenges facing the HBCU and its campus community. In an alumni town hall, Chancellor Bonita Brown made it clear that the changes are not about scaling back tradition but protecting it.
“This is such a huge event. I literally have had the team working on this since last year,” Brown said. “We started early because we want to ensure that we are assessing our events and we want to get better every year. There are a couple of things on the horizon, however, that I need to make you aware of. We are in very interesting times.”The chancellor told alumni that WSSU is “literally navigating two separate spaces” when it comes to homecoming: safety and budget. Her first priority, she stressed, is preventing incidents that could bring even more drastic restrictions from higher governing bodies.“If I could put a wall around our campus, that would be lovely. We could do whatever we wanted to, but we can’t do that,” Brown said. “We’re going to have to figure out how to negotiate and be sure we’re on top of our safety and security game. If there are any incidents, my fear is there’s going to be an unrealistic reaction from the board of governors, from legislators, from others, and that will impact future homecomings.”
Safety Scrutiny Across UNC HBCUs
Brown emphasized that WSSU is not navigating this in isolation. She said safety has been a focal point in recent conversations among leaders of other public historically Black colleges and universities in the state. Those institutions are Elizabeth City State, Fayetteville State, North Carolina A&T and North Carolina Central.“All of the HBCU chancellors, we’ve had a couple of meetings and we strategized what we’re going to do to make homecoming more safe,” she told alumni. “We all wanted to be kind of in alignment so that we can say we’ve been strategic about that.”The discussions, Brown said, have centered on a shared understanding that high-profile incidents at one campus can affect public perception — and even future policy — for all HBCUs. She pointed to the 2024 shooting at Elizabeth City State University that claimed a life during a campus event, as well as two separate shootings during North Carolina Central University’s homecoming that same year.“It just was not a good look,” Brown said. “That has caused a high level of scrutiny on large events. Everybody was very anxious about what happened and not wanting that to recur again this year.”NCCU has already announced its plans to shut down its campus early on the Friday and Saturday of its homecoming. WSSU will do the same, closing the campus at 8 PM daily.
WSSU Joins The HBCU Effort
The result of those cross-campus conversations has been a coordinated push for visible, robust security during major HBCU celebrations. That means that although WSSU has not had any major documented violence in recent years it must still be vigilant.“We’ve looked at all aspects of homecoming — the number of events, the location of events, the start and end times, moving things off campus,” Brown said. “We’ve all increased security and our partnerships with local law enforcement because it is just as important that we don’t have any incidents this year.”
WSSU’s plan reflects that shared HBCU strategy…