JAGCAT
Active Member
Dozens of students at Alcorn State University stood in silence on the campus lawn. They wore black shirts emblazoned with raised fists and held signs that summarized the mood on campus toward the president, Felecia Nave.
“We are brave.” “Talk to us.” “Nave doesn’t care if we live or die.”
Protests are rarely seen at Alcorn, the nation’s oldest historically Black land grant university, where students face pressure to resolve issues with administration internally. But after two years of increasing unhappiness with Nave’s leadership, students and faculty say they no longer trust the president.
Jaquerius Howard, the student government president, even took the extraordinary step of writing to the Institutions of Higher Learning Board of Trustees, calling on Nave to resign because of her ineffective leadership.
“She has continuously shown a lack of empathy, transparency, and communication,” Howard wrote in a letter signed by members of the Royal Court, student government and senate.
Since the student protest at the end of September, Mississippi Today spoke with more than a dozen students, faculty and alumni. They say that since Nave became president in 2019, she has made Alcorn a tougher place for low-income, marginalized students.
Their grievances are wide-ranging. Some are systemic and ongoing: An increased workload without extra pay for faculty. Spotty WiFi, and outdated technology in classrooms. Others are focused on specific incidents, like an ice storm that left students without food for days.
mississippitoday.org
“We are brave.” “Talk to us.” “Nave doesn’t care if we live or die.”
Protests are rarely seen at Alcorn, the nation’s oldest historically Black land grant university, where students face pressure to resolve issues with administration internally. But after two years of increasing unhappiness with Nave’s leadership, students and faculty say they no longer trust the president.
Jaquerius Howard, the student government president, even took the extraordinary step of writing to the Institutions of Higher Learning Board of Trustees, calling on Nave to resign because of her ineffective leadership.
“She has continuously shown a lack of empathy, transparency, and communication,” Howard wrote in a letter signed by members of the Royal Court, student government and senate.
Since the student protest at the end of September, Mississippi Today spoke with more than a dozen students, faculty and alumni. They say that since Nave became president in 2019, she has made Alcorn a tougher place for low-income, marginalized students.
Their grievances are wide-ranging. Some are systemic and ongoing: An increased workload without extra pay for faculty. Spotty WiFi, and outdated technology in classrooms. Others are focused on specific incidents, like an ice storm that left students without food for days.
'What’s happening in this house is hurting me': Why students at Alcorn State called for their president to resign
After two years of increasing unhappiness with Felecia Nave’s leadership, students and faculty say they no longer trust their president.
mississippitoday.org