The fight for better housing conditions at Howard University continues.
Students attending Howard University, a historically Black college in Washington, have been staging a sit-in and sleeping at the university’s main student center for the past two weeks, amid claims they are being forced to live with mold, cockroaches and even mushrooms growing under the sink.
“I’m transferring as soon as I can,” student Yedidya Kefale said on the “TODAY” show. “I came here so I wouldn’t have to protest. I came here so I didn’t have to fight for my education, fight for my basic life, literally basic necessities. For (Howard) to make me fight even more than when I had to back in Seattle, there’s no reason for me to be here.”
As the protests rolled on, the institution’s President Wayne A.I. Frederick released a letter calling for the protests to come to an end.
“Howard University’s proud tradition of student protest has never been — and can never be — invoked as a justification for tactics that harm our students,” the president wrote.
“The current occupation of the Armour J. Blackburn Center is a departure from past norms. There is a distinct difference between peaceful protest and freedom of expression and the occupation of a University building that impedes operations and access to essential services and creates health and safety risks.”
Frederick’s memo was denounced as being tone-deaf.
“It was sad,” Folasade Fashina, a senior who lives off campus but has attended the protests, told The Washington Post. “It echoes a lot of the sentiments that were in previous emails, as far as attempting to make it seem like this protest is different from the ones of the past. They’d prefer to attack [students’] credibility than to do their job.”
Live Movement — a coalition of HBCU students who advocate for education reforms — said Frederick is not addressing their concerns head-on.
“His focus is still not meeting our demands, but getting us out of this building. He must not understand that the only way we’ll leave this building is if he meets our demands,” the Live Movement posted on Instagram.
