Howard University students protesting/Photo courtesy of The New York Times
Howard University students have taken on over a campus building in protest of poor conditions and are demanding that the school’s administration listen and address their concerns.
Students at Howard have expressed concerns about black mold, water leaks, rodents and bugs on the campus, reported Axios.
The complaints first publicly began at the end of September when a student posted a viral video on Twitter that showed a puddle of water resulting from poor plumbing.
At the time, the Vice President of Student Affairs, Cynthia Evers, said that the flooding resulted from a cracked pipe and said repairs were being done.
Since that time, conditions seem to have deteriorated as students have undertaken the second-largest protest at Howard within the last few years.
In 2018, students on campus held a nine-day protest over issues that included the school’s sexual assault policy, campus police carrying guns, and food banks for students.
Even further back, in 1968, Howard students took over the administration building and demanded that the disciplinary policy be revamped and that the school begin offering African-American history courses.
As for the current uprising, Evers has again stated the complaints of the school’s students asserting that Howard respects the students’ rights to peacefully protest and outlining some of the changes the university has made to better accommodate the student body.
The students have been staging a sit-in at the Blackburn Center on campus. Although Evers claimed support for their right to protest, Howard senior Aniyah Vines, who leads the campus advocacy group The Live Movement, said that the school administration threatened to expel those who did not leave. She also claimed they pulled a false fire alarm to try to force them out of the building.
The Live Movement posted its demands on its Instagram page three days ago.
Howard has been plagued with issues stemming from physical campus conditions and the handling of other administrative duties.
Vines has vowed that protests will continue until the administration meets their demands.