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Howard Still Struggling With Complaints About Services

By Toynett N. Hall
Black College Wire

Photo credit: Howard University Today's Howard University is quiet compared with the '60s.

The protests and demonstrations of the late 1960s and early 1970s on the Howard University campus captured the social and political unrest of that time. Students held sit-ins, sent out petitions and organized protests to get their voices heard and demands met.

"Students Fired Up," an article in a 1975 edition of The Hilltop reported. Students took over the administration building in an attempt to upgrade the quality of student services, which they called "grossly inadequate."

Three decades have passed, and the problem of deficient customer and student services still distresses the Howard student body.

Dominique Askew, a sophomore biology major, maintains that "the student is not the priority. There is no one-to-one connection, and you are treated as if you are a number and a dollar amount."

Many students share Askew's sentiments, but others feel that if you accept less, you'll receive less. According to James Hogue, a sophomore marketing major, "People accept the way things are. They accept a lower standard instead of trying to make things better."

Jeffrey Stone, a junior physical therapy major, said, "Students do a whole lot of complaining and don't take much action."

The students of the '60s era were galvanized to cause change within their society. Some view the students of today as apathetic and lazy. According to Vincent Sherry, a sophomore print journalism major, "We're growing up in a more conservative time; the problems are different. I think the nature of the country back then caused people to be more proactive on campus about the issues dealing with the personnel."

Howard University's administration and personnel say they recognize that improvements within the system can provide competent customer and student services.

President Patrick Swygert created "the Strategic Framework for Action," adopted by the Board of Trustees, on Sept. 28, 1996. The plan is a major focal point of the Howard University Professional Development and Leadership Academy. The academy "was designed to assist our faculty, staff and administrations to acquire and refine professional and personal skills to increase competence and accountability," according to its Web page on the Howard University Intranet.

The administration has acknowledged problems within the system and says it has attempted to correct them.

Some students are still unsatisfied, but at least one views the hardship at Howard as an invaluable experience.

"Howard trains people for the inconsistency in life," said Afolabi Adeleke-Adedoyin, a first year graduate student in the School of Computer Science and Engineering.

Toynett N. Hall is a student at Howard University who writes for The Hilltop.

Posted Feb. 14, 2005