Howard University has launched an investigation after perpetrators broke into Benjamin E. Mays Hall and posted a video of themselves breaking in on TikTok This campus building holds historical documents.

In a statement, Rev. Kenyatta Gilbert, the school’s dean, said that the now-deleted clip showed a group “rummaging through Mays Hall, running through the stacks of its library, flipping through books and files, and even deploying a fire extinguisher indoors.”

The break-in became a national story after it was reported by journalist Phil Lewis in his What I’m Reading newsletter.

“These books date back to the 1860s,” the perpetrators captioned their clip, per Lewis’ newsletter.

The documents at the historical building include copies of the Christian Recorder, the oldest newspaper published by Black Americans. As they looked through the newspaper, the group referred to the document as a “Washington D.C. newspaper.”

Rev. Melech E. M. Thomas, a Howard alumnus, expressed his disappointment.

“A group of White Tiktokers broke into the old Howard University School of Divinity building and found tons of important archival information pertinent to history of the Black Church and our own institution,” he wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. “@HowardU, as an alum and the son of an alum, our history deserves better.”

Other content creators have previously participated in similar acts, breaking into popular places and posting their actions on the internet. A popular TikTok account, The Decaying Midwest, shows people breaking into abandoned buildings.

After the latest incident at Howard, the school is also getting criticism for failing to protect important documents. Judith Weisenfeld, chair of the Department of Religion at Princeton University, hopes the school will tighten its security.

“So much going on here from the gleeful trespassing to the repeated characterization of the space as ‘creepy’ to the incredible artifacts and records abandoned and deteriorating,” tweeted Judith Weisenfeld, religious scholar and chair of the Department of Religion at Princeton University. “I hope the exposure leads to a preservation plan asap.”

Gilbert has since responded to the backlash, according to The Washington Post.

“The University is taking the necessary steps to ensure the School of Divinity’s most precious archival materials are in safekeeping,” she said.

HBCUHoward UniversaryInvestigation