JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Some students at Edward Waters University are raising concerns about what they claim are poor living conditions on campus.
Student leaders with the Edward Waters University Campus Activism Coalition shared with First Coast News videos of what looks like mold in dorm rooms and dead mice in the halls.
“There has been molding in my room, it’s very nasty," said Na’im Brown, head ambassador with the EWU Campus Activism Coalition. "It does make me nervous to use the water. Even though yes, it’s been cleaned on the surface… yes, they came in they wiped students rooms down, they have done this plenty of times before."
Reports were made to university leaders, but Brown says no permanent solution was given.
“We get sent contacts, but we’re not giving a distant timeline of when these issues will be finished," Brown said. “We want a permanent solution. Going in and bleaching and wiping mold away, going in ad painting over mold, going in and patching up structural breaks, those are temporary solutions which is why these same problems keep coming back and coming back.”
On a tour of the campus, our cameras got a look inside the dorms. While we found no existing mold in the rooms we were shown, there were signs of past work.
The University president says they had one report of mice, an exterminator was called in, and the problem is now solved. He says microbial growth, however, is a re-occurring issue for the university.
“We experience microbial growth because of the moisture in the air, heat," said Dr. A. Zachary Faison Jr.,EWU President. "That’s not something that’s new or unique to Edward Waters, it’s something that we see, we continuously maintain and address whenever it presents itself."
The coalition has a list of demands, including;
- Lowering of tuition costs as well as room and board
- Improving dinning experience quality or reduce meal plan price if no improvements are made
- Creating a ‘teacher accountability contract’ to improve teacher and staff accountability
- Improve resident life by addressing problems such as molding, rodent infestation, leaks, health hazards, faulty AC systems.
- Create a mode for public transparency and update students on work.
When it comes to lowering tuition, university leaders said:
“Tuition and fees goes towards your credit hours, it's not based qualitatively upon the modality of instruction," said President Faison."It’s based quantitatively on credit hours that you pay for and earn. So, whether a student is taking a class online, or a student is taking a class in person, the price remains the same."
As far as holding open forums with students, university leaders say there are already channels in place to address student complaints.
“The legal body for bringing student concerns at our institution is our student government association… those lines of communication have been opened and remain open," said President Faison.
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Students with the student union say some demands, like sharing information with students, will be addressed in the future.
“We do plan to release, in the next couple of days, a complete update with everything that’s going on cause it’s not just their concerns, it’s my concern but we do have the solutions in place and we’re planning to release that," said N’Aaliyah Baptiste, President of the Student Government Association.