LANGSTON, Okla. — Since the first day of the semester, Langston University students have been pulled back and forth between in person and virtual learning.
Issues with things like air conditioning, water outages and other electrical problems created a turbulent start to the semester.
“I was kind of sad because it reminded me of back in high school during the Covid era," said Langston junior Joseph Dixon. "College is a learning thing. You’re here to graduate but you’re also here to find out who you are and make connections and be a better person, and find out who you are while you’re here, which is done through being in person and meeting those people in person. Kind of hard to do through a computer screen.”
Dixon said the last month had a significant impact on how he learns, and what he's taking away from his collegiate experience.
“For me college, I’ve used it to build connections, to find out who I am, figure out my purpose of why I’m here at school. I’m not getting that through Zoom.”
These issues have overtaken Langston's campus; creating a cycle of in-person classes moving to zoom, coming back to class after a few weeks when a problem is resolved and then moving back online when another issue arises.
Student Ambassador and sophomore Christion Gause said his feelings about this semester fluctuate by the day.
“I was fortunate enough to go to college and that opportunity alone is enough for me to be like okay, be grateful for what you have, but other times, it’s frustrating because I paid to be in person," said Gause.
The sophomore said he had one on one conversation with the college's president, Ruth Ray Jackson.
From those discussions, Gause came to the understanding that the frustration he and other students are feeling are not the college's fault.
“From an administrative perspective, where the school is at, we’ve been trying to put over bandages over problems that we’ve had for such a long time because of the lack of funding that the school has," said Gause. "It hurts to see as a student sometimes when other institutions are receiving that kind of funding and then we are consistently falling behind for reasons that we're just not privy to."
That lack of funding, coming in at a price tag of more than $400 million.
"Putting that into context, if we had $400 million, we can not only expand our programs but we could fix some of the buildings that are having electrical issues, we could expand our sports programs, we could expand our cafeteria and just overall have a better college experience for some of the students here.”
Gause's priority is on getting his degree, but he also wants to make the campus a successful place for the generations of students that come after him.
He and Dixon call on elected leaders to step in, and restore the funding Langston University was funded, to help the institution survive.
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