RALEIGH — About 125 St. Augustine’s College students marched to the State Capitol on today to protest what they described as mold in their dorm rooms, invasions of their privacy and an unsafe campus environment.
School officials said today that the dorms have not been infested with mold. But one student leader said several students complained of illness because of black mold in their rooms.

The demonstration occurred one day after the historically black college kicked off its homecoming week celebrations on campus.

The students, clad in black as a symbol of solidarity, began marching off campus near the Emery Gymnasium at about 10:30 a.m. They gathered on a sidewalk on the 1300 block of Oakwood Avenue before marching downtown to the State Capitol.

The students were silent while assembling on the sidewalk, save for several leaders who said they were speaking on behalf of the entire student body. David Affarenee, a sophomore, said there is mold and mildew on the dormitory walls inside Western and Baker halls. A third dorm, Boyer Hall, is infested with cockroaches and waterbugs, Affarenee said.

“They just paint over all the mold and mildew,” he said. “Some kids have gotten sick.”
Affarenee said students have written college President Dianne B. Suber and filed petitions asking the administration to look into the unsafe conditions at the dorms.

“Dr. Suber don’t care,” said Philip Ativie, a junior business administration major from Alexandria, Va.
But Suber, who watched the demonstrations from the windows of her office at the Boyer Building, said she does care.

“There’s a little piece of me that’s proud and pleased,” Suber said about the demonstration. “I am a product of the '60s, and I value being heard.”

Suber said, however, that the “mold” that has students so concerned is “mostly mildew,” citing a 2005 report from General Engineering and Environmental of North Carolina, a Research Triangle Park-based firm that Suber said the school hired to conduct a study in response to complaints.

“We have old buildings. They do get damp," Suber said.

Students also said they were concerned about campus safety, especially after what they described as a gang-related brawl last year between students and about 20 members of the Bloods street gang.
“Nothing was done about it,” Afarenee said.

Marc Newman, the college's vice president of institutional advancement and development, said there's no gang problem at St. Aug's.

Students complained as well about privacy issues, saying campus police and administrators routinely check their rooms for campus violations, mainly drugs.

“They are doing drug checks five days a week, three times a day, morning, noon and night,” Ativie said.

http://www.newsobserver.com/102/story/499284.html

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