Howard University, the most prestigious and generously funded History Black University, is putting the health of its students at risk. The 2021-2022 academic year did not start out well at Howard University, but the situation has gotten progressively worse.
Deplorable Conditions
To start, the University knowingly exceeded its housing capacity for the year but withheld this information until mere weeks before classes began. In other cases, classes that were labeled as online during enrollment suddenly became mandatory to attend in person.
To “fix” the dilemma of going overcapacity, the University abruptly notified some juniors and seniors that they would have to find their own living accommodations. Many students remain unhoused as rent in the nation’s densely populated capital sits well over $1000 a month.
But this did not rumble its way to social media news straight away.
The first stirrings of frustration came within the first week of classes when the campus had a wifi outage. Depicted is Seriah’s, a freshman at Howard University, account of the debacle.
The situation steadily progressed as students continued to document the illustrious university’s abysmal student dorms. TikTok videos of expired and filthy air vents, students’ personal belongings being overrun with mold, mushrooms growing in crevices, rats and roaches running about, and dining halls that make the hunger pains seem comfortable, were displayed on the video-sharing app. The undercurrent of this all is some students’ gripe with the university’s “enforcement” of its COVID-19 policy.
Howard University students have organized in retaliation, protesting day and night in the Blackburn building. Chants of “Who keeps us safe? We keep us safe,” and “Who shut [expletive] down? We shut [expletive] down” rang out on night one of the protests.
“We have nothing to lose but our chains.”
One Howard student gave their testimony via phone,
“Y’all are representing every Howard student that is going through this [expletive] right now. This is the first day I truly got my voice back, yesterday I could speak a little bit. But this past week I’ve had severe strep throat… because of mold in my [expletive] throat, because of Howard… I paid 40 grand for Howard to make me sick. They don’t give a [expletive] about us.”
A Howard Professor sent an anonymous letter in support of their students,
“Today we are canceling class for a mental health, self-care, and reflection day. Many of my students are actively engaged in struggles for liberty and the basic necessities of life… Please take care of yourself, take care of each other, and remember: you win, you win some, you lose some, but you live to fight another day.”
Fox 5 Washington DC spoke directly to some of the students at the sit-in protest. They reported flooded dorm rooms, collapsed ceilings, and a generally dismissive attitude from the administration.
One student Fox 5 spoke with had this to say,
“I’d rather get kicked out of school but know, I got kicked out of school and I’m looking back on news or looking back at my friends and they’re like ‘oh I’m sorry you got kicked out but we have housing that doesn’t have mushrooms and doesn’t have fungi, and stuff like that. Buildings aren’t leaking anymore.’”
Organizers demand to meet with Howard’s administration by the end of October, voting power for student representatives on the Board of Trustees, and a productive discussion on how the university will prevent another housing shortage for future students.
Campus police are blocking resources and now protestors from making their way inside to the peaceful sit-in protest. Effectively preventing protestors from attending their courses.
What You Gonna Do HU?
On October 13th, Howard University posted an official statement on their social media platforms claiming “The well-being of [their] students is always one of [their] top concerns and [they] will also support the right to a peaceful protest…”
But yet, this is the email that students received, threatening expulsion.
Howard University has turned a blind eye to the protests while posting Homecoming pictures and videos. But the resilient students of Howard University, future movement leaders in their own right, are still protesting in and outside of the Blackburn building. Even with temperatures steadily dropping on the east coast, students have pitched tents to keep the fight going.
At the time of writing this, the protests have persisted for 15 days. Over the course of the two weeks, growing media attention and widespread criticism of Howard University’s gross mishandling of the situation, has caused a PR disaster.
Howard University has History
Howard University is no stranger to organized student protests.
The above pictures shared by @scorptini on Twitter, a journalist and PhD student at Howard, are from a student protest in 2018. Howard University students were protesting for nine days, demanding adequate housing for students, transparency about misappropriated financial aid funds, and student body representation on decision-making boards. Sound familiar?
Student Demands and Press Conferance
Here is the list of demands that the student protesters have drafted,
1. An in-person town hall with President Dr. Wayne Frederick.
2. The re-instatement of student, alumni, and faculty trustee positions on the Board of Trustees.
3. An in-person meeting to draft a housing plan to protect future students.
4. Academic and legal immunity from alleged violations incurred during the protesting.
Leave a Reply