White People in Black Spaces/Opinions

“FOR SPRINGFEST, I EXCEPT A LOT OF WATER EVENTS, MAYBE A FIELD DAY OR WATER GAMES. I THINK IT’LL BE A WEEK FULL OF FUN EVENTS”

INDIA SIMMONS COMPUTER SCIENCE

BATON ROUGE

“FOR THIS SPRINGFEST, I THINK THERE WILL BE SUPER FUN EVENTS, SUCH AS A CARNIVAL OR A FOAM PARTY. I’M REALLY LOOKING FORWARD TO IT…WHAT SOUTHERN HAS IN STORE.”

JONISE FOOTE’ GARDENA, CALIFORNIA NURSING

“DURING SPRINGFEST, I EXPECT FUN AND GOOD VIBES ALL WEEK. A LIT WEEK FULL OF EVENTS AND MAKING NEW MEMORIES. “

White male, Micheal Newman, a former student of Howard University’s law school, claims the school was a “hostile educational environment” and pursued a 2-million-dollar lawsuit after being expelled. Howard University expelled Newman in September 2022, and Newman is seeking compensation for “pain, suffering, emotional anguish, and damage toward his reputation.”

laila hazel THE SOUTHERN DIGEST

Newman claims he has communicated with school administrators regarding being mistreated by staff, and he was disregarded. However, a conversion on Zoom was mentioned that consisted of Newman comparing the struggles of an African American child at a predominately white school with the experience of a white child at a historically black college. After reaching out to Wayne Fredrick, the president of Howard, Newman wanted to receive an acknowledgment stating that he is to be treated just as his African American colleagues. He attached in his email a screenshot from a ‘GroupMe’ chat where a student addressed him as “Mayo King.’’ Howard’s administrators denied he had ever been discriminated against. His comments made via GroupMe created tension between him and other students. With time, Newman was removed from the group chat. Newman was held accountable for the actions and words he chose to display in the eyes of the public and social media. His lawsuit served as an opportunity to shy away from being accountable for his actions. By taking on a lawsuit, he has manipulated the narrative to make him the victim. Newman was looking for support from his former historically black college to support his outbursts of opinions on a life he has not experienced.

Newman did not take into consideration that he may have truly offended students, especially after comparing his HBCU experience to an African American child attending a PWI. I will admit, there may be challenges that he faces by being a white man at a black college, however, that was a choice he pursued. Many other ethnicities are welcomed at all HBCUs, but they should acknowledge that our colleges were built by our ancestors because we were not allowed entry into white institutions.

Mental Health: In a Student’s Mind

taniya nichols THE SOUTHERN DIGEST

Mental health is one of the most important building blocks people must protect to help build their futures. All health is important and should be treated as such, so I went to the student body to get their thoughts about mental health on campus.

When I asked Jorydan DuBose, a Junior Business Management Major from Houston, Texas, her thoughts about student health, she stated, “I believe in light of recent events with students it has become more of a forefront issue, but I don’t believe they necessarily know a ‘right way’ to go about mental health.”

After hearing DuBose’s well-constructed response, I needed to hear from another student on campus, and I was lucky enough to talk to a new student and get their opinion on mental health support. When asked if she thinks that mental health resources are accessible on campus, Railyn Westley, a Freshman Business Management Major from New Orleans, Louisiana, stated, “For the girls I know it is, but for the boys, they didn’t get any mental health resource papers hanging up in their dorm.”

I decided to get a male’s opinion after learning that not all dorms have mental health door hangers. Dylan Vernon from Independence, Louisiana, a Freshman Nursing Major, expressed, “I went to people to speak about mental health and went to the counseling center where they gave me great advice to help me with what I was going through.” Trusting someone on campus to turn to even if they’re not a counselor is the main point Dylan expressed to me. I also asked each student if they knew about all the resources that were accessible on campus, but none of them knew about the new virtual counseling option with Togetherall.

Each student also felt very strongly about mental

POLICY health days and believes the school should implement them as calendar days. As someone who knows about all the resources accessible on campus, I wish there was more noise made about mental health on campus. College can be so overwhelming because there are a combination of academic, financial, and everyday stressors, which can be so overwhelming at times that some time from school is needed. In the future, I hope to at least see a mental health day or days in the month of May for mental health awareness month.