The following article is in collaboration with the Daytona Times. 

Students at Bethune-Cookman University are protesting about the living conditions on campus and are demanding the resignation of the institution’s Board of Trustees.

The demonstrations started on Monday. Hundreds of Bethune-Cookman students gathered in front of the memorial of Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune’s statue at the Daytona Beach university to demonstrate change.

“Hey hey, ho ho, the Board of Trustees has got to go” echoed in front of the campus’ White Hall – the site of the school’s administrative offices – on Monday. Complaints coming from students include poor housing and dining conditions and lack of assistance and interaction with the current administration. Demonstrations continued well into the next day where students staged a sit-out inside the White Chapel Hall, demanding to see Dr. Lawrence Drake, B-CU’s interim president.

Freshman and pre-med biology major, Noah Janay, 18, has been documenting the demonstrations from the ground level through her photography company, Noah Jalien Photography.

“We want better living conditions,” says Janay, who is from Fayetteville, North Carolina. “We put in almost $30,000 to this campus, to come back to mold and nats and rats, and the food is undercooked.”

She added, “The staff doesn’t help us out, can’t get in contact with student accounts, can’t get in contact with your advisors. And it’s just very difficult for us to thrive on this campus when the staff is not here for us.”

Pre-med freshman student Ge’Niya Joseph of New Orleans echoed her classmate’s frustrations.

“I want better leadership,” said Joseph. “And I want them to prioritize the students’ health and needs because they talk about the damage that we have from the hurricane [Ian], that they’re putting more focus into fixing the student accounts building for the employees to work, but student accounts can work from home.”

Joseph continued, “We live here, and we have mold in our buildings that we’re breathing in and getting sick from. So, they really need to work on my prioritization.”

Sparked with Reed

“Ed Reed was right” also was chanted at the Monday protest, referring to B-CU’s decision not to grant the NFL Hall of Famer Ed Reed a contract as the new football coach.

Last month, Reed was tapped to become the 16th head coach and proceed with former head coach Terry Sims, who was let go after seven seasons. But when Reed got to the campus, he complained on social media that his office was not cleaned before he arrived and made other profanity-laced comments, prompting the school’s decision to not continue hiring negotiations with Reed.

Students like Janay want to clarify that Reed is not the reason they are demonstrating, but he is the spark that was needed to bring important issues to the table.

“The reason for our protest is not at Reed,” says Janay. “But he is somewhat of our crutch because he’s so known…if he didn’t speak out about the situation, they [media, administration] wouldn’t listen to us.”

She continued, “So because we have a Reed, and he just touched our campus, and he’s all over the news. It was like our spotlight.”

President’s response

On Monday night, Drake appeared on the “Roland Martin Unfiltered Show’’ to address the decision not to proceed with contract negotiations with Reed and to address the students’ frustrations.

“What I say to them is what I been saying to them [students],” Drake told Martin. “I walk the campus every day when I’m on campus. What I say to them is that we’re working on the issues.”

Drake says he invested a quarter of a million dollars into one of their buildings “for remediation and mildew,” but did not specify which one. When shown pictures of a few of the students’ dorm rooms, he also said it was mildew and not the mold that the students were complaining about.

“They’re [students] not showing you everything,” said Drake. “Yes, there are some of those kinds of things but portions of the building may not be even used.”

Nonetheless, there’s anger and frustration among some students who feel he does not have their best interest at heart.

“I want Drake out of his position,”  said Joseph, referring to his interview with Martin. “It shows that he is comfortable with lying, and dismissing the importance of the students’ voices, just to make himself look better. And that is a problem. And that is not who I want leading our campus, which shows why he is the interim president and not the current president of Bethune-Cookman University because I really feel like he is unfit for the position. So, I want better leadership.”

Janay added that her personal purpose is not to degrade the institution she loves but to bring to the forefront her voice and others who share the same passion for the historically Black university.

“We are not bashing our school because we don’t want to go here,” said Janay.  “We don’t want this to happen. We don’t want them to shut it down. That’s not what we’re trying to do. What we’re trying to do is bring awareness to the staff so that our campus can grow, so that we can continue to enjoy being Wildcats.”

On Tuesday, Drake released the following statement, saying in part, “While social media and media outlets have seized on not continuing negotiations with NFL Hall of Fame player Ed Reed, many of our students chose to use this moment to voice their concerns. This administration takes no issue with this. In the coming days, I will meet with student leaders to ensure that we address many of the students’ concerns and answer their questions as honestly as possible.”