Harris monitors election results at alma mater Howard University

Kamala Harris will spend election night at Howard University, her alma mater and a historically black university in Washington DC.

The Democratic presidential candidate graduated from Howard University in 1986 with a bachelor's degree in political science and economics.

She maintains close relationships with the school and has often described her four years there as the most formative of her life.

Howard President Ben Vinson said it was the first time in modern history that a presidential election monitoring party was held on a college campus.

Mr Vinson said the university was already “incredibly proud” that the first woman of color to serve as vice president was among its graduates.

“We are also honored that she chose Howard as the place where she can potentially make history again.”

Classes were canceled on Tuesday to give students the best possible opportunity to vote.

Founded in 1867, Howard is nicknamed “The Mecca.” It is one of the largest and most academically rigorous historically black universities in the country.

It produces more black graduate students than any other university in the country and currently serves about 11,000 students.

Alumni also include former Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, civil rights activist Stokely Carmichael and actor Chadwick Boseman.

In her memoir “The Truths We Hold,” Harris described it as a place “you could come as you were and leave as the person you wanted to be.”

At Howard, she pledged Alpha Kappa Alpha, the oldest black sorority in the United States.

AKA and other Black sorority members form a tight-knit national network that has helped propel Harris' presidential bids this year and in 2019.