The confrontation followed an October social media post in which a Spelman student alleged she was sexually assaulted by a Morehouse College student. The allegation circulated widely within the Atlanta University Center, a consortium that links Spelman, Morehouse College and the Morehouse School of Medicine.

At Howard's event promoting a book on artificial intelligence, student Azali Fortier questioned whether such a celebration was appropriate while students feared for their safety on campus. In a video she recorded and posted to Instagram, Fortier accused Howard of "silencing students" and of protecting alleged sexual predators by failing to take responsibility for student safety.

Howard's office did not respond to a request for comment on Friday.

Last month, the three AUC institutions issued a joint statement acknowledging concerns about sexual harassment and misconduct across the consortium. "We as members of the Atlanta University Center Consortium are aware of concerns regarding sexual harassment and misconduct within our community. We take every concern seriously," the statement read. "Sexual misconduct, nonconsensual behavior, online harassment and cyberbullying have no place on our campuses."

Faculty, staff and students affiliated with Spelman's Women's Research and Resource Center and its Comparative Women's Studies Program issued their own statement striking a more urgent tone, declaring: "We… insist on naming and addressing rape and all forms of sexual violence on our and all college campuses!"

On Friday, poet, social media influencer and Spelman alumna Lynae Vanee shared a video from a recent Morehouse forum on rape culture that she attended. "I sat for 45 minutes infuriated by the level of equivocation and condescension these women faced as they were asked over and over again for a cure to rape culture, and how to institutionalize safety, as if the answer was not right in their faces," Vanee wrote.

Vanee said she experienced what she described as rape culture while a student at Spelman and was sexually assaulted by a Morehouse graduate less than a year after graduating.

Questions about sexual violence and institutional accountability have roiled college campuses nationally, with high-profile investigations at Cornell University and Louisiana State University drawing continued headlines. At Spelman and across the AUC, there is little indication that calls for investigations and stronger safety measures will fade.

For survivors, advocates say, the struggle to be believed can compound the trauma of assault — a concern that has animated the current wave of organizing at the historic women's college in Atlanta.