The website has been down since July 27.
“…Howard University representatives promptly responded to our call and for now have agreed to create a landing page until we both work to ensure our website is both operable and fully functional come the August 17 proposed deadline of when we will be live,” said Paul Holston, the Editor-in-Chief of the Hilltop, to HBCU Buzz.
“For now, we continue to keep our audience informed through our social media websites, which include primarily our Twitter, but also Facebook, Instagram, Periscope, and Snapchat,” added Holston.
According to Holston, the website “randomly went down” on July 27 and both “the Hilltop leadership team and Hilltop advisors have yet to conclude the reasons why, as we have yet to receive any confirmed answers.”
In a statement, Holston, along with Howard student Almani Jackson, who serves as Business Manager of the Hilltop, officially announced on August 9 that the website is down:
“As of Wednesday, July 27, 2016, thehilltoponline.com, the online website of Howard University’s Student Newspaper, The Hilltop, randomly went down…
We have been working hard to ensure that our website will be back online and fully functional as soon as possible come Fall 2016 semester, but as the weeks have passed since July 27, it is with understanding that it is out of our control in determining the exact time of when we will have the website online again.
The Hilltop leadership team will continue to push Howard University representatives to ensure our website will be ready before the Fall 2016 semester begins. With this said, it is our responsibility to transparently inform all aspects of the Howard University community of where we stand today.
Until then, we will continue to inform our audience of the on- and off-campus news, happenings and events on our social media platforms with the intentions of our first print publication to be published on-campus Thursday, August 25, 2016. With what we can control, we will not stop doing our duties to continue to inform and be the student voice.”
Holston said that “We do not know the exact reasons to this day why it went inoperable and unfortunately, during that time we had no control over when we could get the website back up.”
Coming Soon. #ForZora. ✊🏽✊🏾✊🏿 pic.twitter.com/CDIAiPWb45
— The Hilltop (@TheHilltopHU) August 10, 2016
“Once our website become live again, of course it will be our primary area to keep all those informed. The great thing about social media is that it remains a key tool for our publication to keep all those informed to the best of our abilities.”
The Hilltop‘s first print issue is scheduled for August 25.
