untitled design

Students live in tents in the US to escape housing infestations

Jasmine Joof said she was ill with congestion, coughing and headaches for several weeks before she discovered that mold growing in her dorm room at Howard University (HBCU) in the United States had caused a reaction. allergic.

The sophomore said she reported the problem to a residential consultant in September, but it was never addressed. Then, in October, she and other students facing similar living conditions in their dorms decided they would sleep in tents and air mattresses at the university’s Blackburn Center to protest and demand that authorities address their concerns.

Some have also complained of flooding, cockroach and rat infestation, and non-working wi-fi in their university dorms in Washington, DC, which is historically attended by black students.

“It’s a neglect of students,” said Joof, who is also a spokesperson for #BlackburnTakeover. “They had every opportunity to fix these dorms.”

Student activists and civil rights leaders say the controversy is indicative of a widespread problem with crumbling buildings on HBCU’s centuries-old campuses, an acronym that refers to colleges attended mostly by blacks, which are often underfunded compared to predominantly white institutions.

The protests at Howard won the support of students from other HBCUs, including Clark Atlanta University, Morehouse and Spelman. Atlanta-based universities held a joint protest last month against poor living conditions and homelessness on their own campuses.

The protests at Howard – one of the most prestigious HBCUs in the country – have been going on for a month. The demonstrations attracted national attention, with leading civil rights activists such as the Reverend Jesse Jackson and William Barber II, and Martin Luther King III publicly supporting the students. Jackson was on campus earlier this month trying to mediate the situation with Howard’s students and administration.

Student protesters called for a meeting or city hall with university officials and for them to provide a comprehensive plan to fix the building’s problems and be more transparent. More than 4,500 people signed a petition asking Howard to cancel its contract with Corvias Inc., the company that maintains and operates residential buildings on campus.

A CNN contacted Corvias to comment on the case.

While students say the meeting with authorities has yet to take place, Howard Wayne AI Dean Frederick on Nov. 5 acknowledged complaints about the deteriorating dormitories and said the university is working to resolve some of the problems.

“This is an old campus,” Frederick said during his state university address. Frederick’s office declined an interview with the CNN.

Some black leaders say the clamor should signal lawmakers that the government needs to prioritize funding for HBCUs. According to the Brookings Institution, HBCUs are largely underfunded due to state underinvestment, lower endowments, and lower alumni contributions as a result of lower black income. The US Government Accountability Office reports that HBCUs have an average donation of $15,000 per student, compared to $410,000 for non-HBCUs.

The President’s Spending Plan Joe Biden in the Build Back Better Act includes $2 billion for educational programs and infrastructure in HBCUs. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she hopes the House will pass the legislation by Thanksgiving. The bill will then go to the Senate.

the vice president Kamala Harris, a former student of Howard, refused through aides to comment on the controversy at the university. During the National Action Network’s Anniversary Awards event, Harris said that HBCUs were “essential to our nation’s future” and recognized the “historic investment” for them in the Build Back Better framework.

“It’s already crossed the line”

The leaders of the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Black Populations) stand in sympathy with Howard’s students.

Wisdom Cole, national director of the NAACP Youth & College Division, said that while insufficient funding is a factor in the housing crisis at HBCUs, he questions whether Howard is allocating enough money for campus buildings.

“This has been a longstanding problem and is at a boiling point where students have said enough is enough,” Cole said. “For students who want to be able to be here and graduate here, resources must be allocated appropriately.”

Celebrities and important figures such as Sean “Diddy” Combs and alumni Eddie C. Brown and C. Sylvia Brown have donated millions of dollars to the university. But some students say housing problems prove they aren’t seeing the full benefits of that money.

Channing Hill, president of the NAACP student chapter in Howard, said students not only live in old-fashioned dorms, they also lack access to adequate mental health services and that academic advisors are understaffed in some departments.

Hill said there was an “unimaginable burden” placed on students and that Howard needs to be held accountable.

“Students don’t feel safe in their own rooms,” Hill said. “We are dealing with a misallocation (of funds). But we’re also dealing with a scarcity problem that has everything to do with the fact that HBCUs need funding.”

Reverend Barber said he recently visited Howard’s campus and prayed with student protesters. He said students are entitled to clean and safe housing and the university must be willing to work with students and address their concerns.

“When I heard that the university administration didn’t hold a meeting with the students, I realized they were in the wrong direction,” Barber said. “These students are simply saying ‘we want these dorms fully inspected and fully cleaned’.”

“Funding is the key”

Students at other HBCU units are expressing similar concerns about their living conditions. In mid-October, Clark Atlanta students, Morehouse and Spelman staged a protest to demand better housing for their administrators’ students and for lawmakers to provide more funding for their schools.

Alivia Duncan, a senior at Clark Atlanta, said the students are living in dilapidated buildings with outdated furniture and appliances, water-stained ceiling tiles and the mildew that is often seen in dorms.

The university also has housing shortages, Duncan said. In August, some Clark freshmen arrived on campus and discovered that their dorms were still undergoing renovations. The university allegedly had to place these students in off-campus housing.

“Funding is key to all of this,” Duncan said, adding that it could help the university build and provide more housing. “I’m not saying universities don’t have responsibility, but with more resources, we can be sure that everyone [os dormitórios] are up to date.”

Martin Luther King III said that HBCUs are overcrowded and under-resourced, which results in challenges to housing quality. King, a former student at Morehouse, said he believes the money from President Biden’s spending plan will help schools remedy some of the problems.

“I don’t think it’s just sheer negligence,” King said. “In general, HBCUs have never had enough money to do what they need to do.”

*(Translated text. Click here to read the original, in English)

Reference: CNN Brasil

You may also like

Get the latest

Stay Informed: Get the Latest Updates and Insights

 

Most popular