It is incumbent upon Howard University's administrators to be transparent following the abrupt resignation of theh school's president, Sidney Ribeau, which comes at a time when Howard is struggling to survive financially, Clinton Yates writes at the Washington Post.
On a sunny fall day following Howard University's abrupt leadership change, much of the campus was still in the dark. While students, faculty and staff members discussed school President Sidney Ribeau's announcement that he would retire in December, the blackout on specifics made matters worse: Had he been forced out? What was the real reason? And will this really change the core problems facing the school?
Indeed, Ribeau's Tuesday afternoon e-mail sent to the school community announcing his departure, was vague at best, confusing at worst. And for many on campus, that lack of transparency and honest discussion of the school's problems is illustrative of "The Mecca"‘s current struggles.
"My main thought was, 'Why?' I feel like we as a campus didn't get a clear reason why he did that," Tyler Brown, a junior from Atlanta said. "Him being our president, I felt like we should have gotten that."
Howard's history of student disgruntlement is nothing new. But for many students, life at the school has become a tricky balance between maintaining the morale it takes to succeed academically and facing the real-life issues that come with an unresponsive higher-ups.
Read Clinton Yates' entire piece at the Washington Post.
The Root aims to foster and advance conversations about issues relevant to the black Diaspora by presenting a variety of opinions from all perspectives, whether or not those opinions are shared by our editorial staff.