Students Protest Grievances at Howard

The month of September has been an interesting month to be a student at Howard University.

A week ago Friday, approximately 350 students gathered outside the campus's administration building to protest administrative incompetence, like delays in the awarding of financial aid packages and problems with on-campus housing. Students threatened to sit-in at the building, though administration officials eventually turned them away.

For the past few years, many Howard students simply didn't know whether they could stay at Howard before they left for school in August, simply because they had not heard back from the Financial Aid office. Long lines formed this year, prompting calls from students to expand hours for the office, with the administration resisting.

In addition to these concerns, students were also speaking out against an on-campus housing shortage, censorship accusations against the Interim Vice Provost of Student Affairs, and unfair labor practice charges from the service workers union.

Student leaders presented a list of demands to administration officials. They asked administration to send the response to The Hilltop, the student newspaper. The list and responses are available here. The only demand the administration agreed to was increasing accessibility to the Financial Aid office.

Demand: Hours of the Financial Aid office should be immediately extended until 7 p.m. until the set purge date with staff (i.e. certified financial aid officers and managers) in place to render quality customer service and to serve the unusually large number of students who have yet to be validated.

Response: “That’s something that I agree with and will, in fact, do,” Ribeau said. Thornton said even before students raised the concern, this issue was a priority. He said that the office will be open from 8:30 a.m. until 7 p.m. until the set purge date. He said additional staff people will be needed, but they have agreed to move a substantial part of the operation back to the Amour J. Blackburn Center. Ribeau said this move will be completed by Friday. “It’s not easy, but that’s what we’re going to do.”

Students, however, were not pleased with the administration's response. The spokesperson for the student leaders explains why.

Hordge also said that students were disappointed with what she characterized as a lack of specifics in Ribeau's response. "We don't want general answers, and we don't want things brushed under the carpet," she said.

This is certainly a story to keep an eye on as the school year moves forward.

Stay tuned.