Hampton University, our Home by the Sea, is a well known and well accomplished HBCU located in Hampton, VA. The prestige of its name precedes it everywhere it travels, but within the walls of our Home by the Sea, the students do not feel home at all. We face mold in our living and learning facilities. We have to scrupulously inspect every bite  of the food we eat here because there are so many cases of molded, under cooked, or unclean food. Our professors have to provide their own classroom supplies to give us the education we pay for. We have experienced sexual assault and have had to watch our assailants walk campus everyday without a hint of guilt from them or the administration. The worst part is when we opened our mouths to speak out, at the Hampton University Town Hall meeting on February 20, 2018, we were silenced by the administration who shamed our victim hood and insinuated that we were lying. 

​

When speaking on sexual assault, the administration told "us women" that we should not let men do such things to us. Not only is that shameless victim blaming, but that is a total disregard for the male students here who have been victims of sexual assault. When speaking on the lack of sanitation in the Hampton University cafeteria, the administration said the pictures we took were fake and that the cafeteria had passed two health inspections in the last month. This especially unsettled us because we have all had recurring and recent issues with sanitation in the cafeteria. When speaking on the mold issue, the administration claimed that they walked the dorm halls themselves and did not see anything. Our question is: How can you see the mold that you painted over? Why have none of the students living in dorms seen your faces on a regular? No answer. 

​

Following the town hall, the administration released a letter through the Student Government Association (SGA) with solutions to these problems, but the solutions they came up with were just like paint over mold: temporary, quick fixes. Their solution to the issues with the cafeteria is to implement a student monitoring team. The solution we want is a completely new food service provider to replace Gourmet Services. Their solution to the issues regarding mold is to inspect the buildings and to "outline immediate fixes and permanent fixes to ALL issues" by March 1 when we were told that all mold issues would be handled within 48 hours of them being reported.  We want at least monthly inspections and immediate fixes every time mold is detected. Finally, their solution to the problems regarding sexual assault is to host educational sessions to inform students how to report sexual assault. According to Title IX, these policies and procedures are supposed to be posted through out campus and must be easily accessible to the students. Let it be known that sexual assault is spoken about once at the beginning of the school year to freshmen students only  and the only information posted about Title IX is in the health center. Title IX should be embedded into the University 101 course and students should know when Hampton is under Title IX investigation. Hampton University was under investigation last semester and the students were not informed about it until it came out in the town hall meeting. Even then, the administration denied it assuming that we would take their word.

​

Our question to the Hampton University Administration is: when are they going to tell us the truth? Hampton University handles all of its problems by painting over them then telling us is beautiful. As a student body, we are tired of accepting their refusal to act on our greivances. Our 40k is not for mold. Our 40k is not for unsanitary food. Our 40k is not to be called liars and our 40k is not for lies. They can be as complacent as they as long as they know that for every integral of complacency they show we will show a full area of action. 

​

The Independent Collective of Hampton University