“It’s active negligence to their students,” said Joof, who’s also a spokeswoman for the #BlackburnTakeover. “They have had every opportunity to fix these dorms.”
The protests at Howard — one of the most prestigious HBCUs in the country — have now been going on for a month. The sit-ins have garnered national attention with lead civil rights activists that include Rev. Jesse Jackson, Rev. William Barber II and Martin Luther King III publicly supporting the students. Jackson was on campus earlier this month attempting to mediate the situation with students and Howard administration.
CNN has reached out to Corvias for comment.
While students say the meeting with officials has yet to happen, on Nov. 5, Howard President Wayne A.I. Frederick acknowledged their complaints about the deterioration of dorms and said the university is working to solve some of the issues.
“This is an aging campus,” Frederick said during his state of the university address.
Frederick’s office declined an interview with CNN citing pending litigation.
Vice President Kamala Harris, a Howard alumna, declined through aides to comment on the controversy at Howard. During the National Action Network’s Anniversary Awards event, Harris said HBCUs were “critical to our nation’s future” and acknowledged the “historic investment” for them in the Build Back Better framework.
‘Enough is enough’
Leaders from the NAACP are standing in solidarity with the students at Howard.
Wisdom Cole, national director of the NAACP Youth & College Division, said while insufficient funding is a factor in the housing crisis at HBCUs, he questions whether Howard is delegating enough money to its campus buildings.
“This has been a long-lasting issue and this is at a boiling point where students have said enough is enough,” Cole said. “For students who want to be able to be here, to be retained here and to graduate from here, the funds must be allocated appropriately.”
But some students say the housing woes prove they aren’t seeing all the benefits of the money.
Channing Hill, president of the NAACP student chapter at Howard, said students not only live in aging dorms, but they don’t have access to adequate mental health services and academic advisers are short-staffed in some departments.
Hill said there has been an “unimaginable burden” placed on students and Howard needs to be held accountable.
“Students do not feel safe in their own rooms,” Hill said. “We are dealing with misallocation (of funds). But we’re also dealing with a scarcity issue that has everything to do with the fact that HBCUs need funding.”
Rev. Barber said he recently visited Howard’s campus and prayed with the student protesters.
He said the students have a right to clean, safe housing and the university should be willing to work with the students and address their concerns.
“When I hear that the administration has not had a town hall with them, that’s wrong headed,” Barber said. “These students are simply saying ‘we want these dorms fully inspected and we want them fully cleaned.'”
‘Funding is the key’
Students at other HBCUs are expressing similar concerns with their housing conditions.
In mid-October, students at Clark Atlanta, Morehouse and Spelman held a protest to demand improved student housing from their administrators and that lawmakers provide more funding for their schools.
Alivia Duncan, a senior at Clark Atlanta, said students are living in crumbling buildings with outdated furniture and appliances, water-stained ceiling tiles and mold is often spotted in the dorms.
“Funding is the key to all of this,” Duncan said, adding that it could help the university build and provide more housing. “I’m not saying the schools don’t have responsibility but with more funding, we are able to make sure that all of the (dorms) are up to date.”
Martin Luther King III said HBCUs are overburdened and underfunded and it continues to result in challenges to housing quality. King, a Morehouse alum, said he believes the money in Biden’s spending plan will help schools remediate some of the problems.
“I don’t think it’s just straight negligence,” King said. “In general, HBCUs have never had enough money to do what they need to do.”
CNN’s Carolyn Sung, Jasmine Wright and Rosalina Nieves contributed.
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