Howard University Students Complain About Learning Environment

“Being taught in such an overcrowded room makes it uncomfortable for me to learn!” said Tiana Smith-Whyte.

Howard University is a research I university with a total of 10,583 undergraduate and graduate students. The classes are overcrowded. Students say it is unfair to pay thousands of dollars in tuition and take classes in uncomfortable environments. “My mother paid almost $9,000 my first semester at Howard, and it frustrated me that this class was always so crowded,” said Teshey Green, Sophomore Public Relations major.

Tuition for Howard University is $10,725.00 per semester. Students attending this university are either paying out of pocket or taking out loans.

Introduction to Sociology is held in the Frederick Douglas Hall building. The capacity for this class is 135 people, but 141 are currently enrolled. The University introduced a new system for students to override into classes. In this new system, “some overrides were approved that were not supposed to be approved,” said Dr. Ivor Livingston Introduction to Sociology instructor.

“The learning environment some days is uncomfortable to me, because to get my full learning experience, I feel as if a lot of components contribute to it like crowded classes, said Chaniece Williams, Sophomore Biology major from New York. “Being the punctual student that I am, I tried to arrive 15 minutes early to class so that I would be able to get a seat in the middle of the room,” said Jacob Walker, Sophomore Biology Major from Maryland. Students feel that they should not have to race to class, in order to get a decent seat. Students are worried about standing up in class. Students feel they should not have to borrow seats from nearby classrooms. “During test days, it would frustrate me that I had to walk to the end of the hall to get seats from nearby classes,” said Teshey Green.

Large classes intimidate nine out of ten students. “Big classes come with low class participation,” said Livingston. “Sometimes, I didn’t want to participate because of what I thought others would think,” said Teshey Green.

Howard University has three lecture halls. For the two years I have attended this school Introduction to Sociology has been held in the same room. Dr.Livingston has taught this course for five consecutive years. He said, “I put in requests to stay in Frederick Douglas Hall because it is easier for me to get equipment down to that particular classroom.” However, Dr.Livingston did mention that the university classrooms should be bigger and that he does prefer teaching in a bigger space with better conditions and technology. “In the past years, I’ve taught close to 200 students in room 116,” said Livingston. Howard University cut the budget for graduate students to teach. “This makes it hard for the department to open more classes. Teachers are not able to teach more because of their schedule of rotation,” said Livingston. The faculty is left to pick up the slack.

Frederick Douglas Hall went through 10 year of construction, however they did not rebuild the classrooms. The university spent $2 million on repairing the roofs and walls,” said Livingston. “I don’t expect to see any changes to Frederick Douglas Hall anytime soon,” said Livingston.