“Going live in 1, 2, 3”.
“Good morning America. D’Zyre Jones here reporting live from Howard University and today I have —
(I started gesturing my guest towards the microphone for her to state her name).
“Harriet. Harriet Tubman. This is my building right over here” she stated as she pointed to the building at the top of 4th street. “I have five different residence halls inside. We have Maria Louise Baldwin Baldwin, Prudence Crandall, Julia Frazier, Sojourner Truth, and Phyllis Wheatley Halls. All named after historical figures in our history.”
“Now, Harriet, tell me about the campus. We always hear that the culture is changing. Is that true? Is there really a New Howard vs Old Howard?
“Now I’ve been around for a very long time. I’ve seen generations of young women and young men on this campus. I’ve seen them enter in excited about Howard, building bonds with their floormates, joining organizations, graduating, and becoming the person they’ve always dreamed of becoming. Now don’t get me wrong, each class always brings in their unique aspect to Howard, but these past couple years have shifted faster than I’ve ever seen. “
“What do you mean? Can you explain further?”
“Well if we start by looking today, the administration has closed my building can you believe that?”
“How did they manage to do that? Doesn’t your building have enough space to hold about 640 freshman girls?”
“Girl, yes, and in 2017, they had over 700 girls living here. My heart was truly full that year. Now as you know because it is considered a national landmark the outside can’t be destroyed, but Howard was slowly letting me crumble on the inside. A couple of the halls were willowing away, but they were livable. Anyway, I’m getting carried away. The culture. So after the 2017 semester. Douglass Hall was out of commission. Old Howard knew the sentiments of that building, but now the newest class will never know. When strolling through Old Howard, it was as if you were transported into a place where time stood still. People talked to each other without cell phones for most of the time. Punchout was always a good hangout spot in Blackburn Center because of the history it brought. Now good old Douglass Hall had many purposes. No matter your major you were in that building at least once throughout your Howard career. It hosted foreign language classes, math classes, Afro studies classes, and even Army and Air Force ROTC resided there. Douglass was the icing on the cake for many Howard students. It was full of friends you already knew and friends you’d know tomorrow. That’s why everyone hung out nearby throughout the day. The steps made everyone feel inclined to sit and chit chat about the latest Howard news. Even the sun loved Douglass because she always shined her brightest on that side of the yard. From my viewpoint, I could see students gathering in front of there any day, at any time to hang out and enjoy each other’s company. It was really a sight to see because it made the yard full of smiles and memories. When it shut down all the classes that were made to be in Douglass got scattered across the campus in various locations. No one could hang out there because of the “caution” signs. When the sun wanted to shine her hardest everyone started to hang out in front of the Fine Arts building rather than Douglass. Underclassmen never noticed the difference because they never knew what to expect. However, the upperclassmen felt that the transition was weird and knew that Douglass closing was the start of a culture shift because if they graduated before Douglass reopened, who would be able to tell the underclassman that Douglass was the best spot to catch the sun and good vibes?
“Make the shift for the worse or the better?”
“Let me finish and you can decide whether it’s for better or worse. After the 2018 spring semester, Howard finally decided they were going to fix my building and I was so excited to see a new me.”
“Yes, I read about that! The way it was described it sounded like you would go in for a tummy tuck and come out with a breast augmentation, nose job, and a Brazilian butt lift.”
Harriet started to laugh, “These kids come up with the funniest of jokes these days. What worries me though is that.. ” she stopped.
“What?” I questioned.
“The booty wall. It’s not there right now and I’m scared.”
“What is the booty wall?”
“The booty wall is where all the fun happened. I’ve seen so many friendships created because students met right on that wall. Everyone would sit on the wall to wait for their friends to come out of my building and they would sit out there and talk to each other after visitation ended. The students were always so full of life. From inside Baldwin Hall’s lounge you could see what the students called the Valley. They used to go there and have parties between the classes and let me tell you some classes can definitely party better than the others. These places gave the students something to look forward to outside of their classes and organizations. Without them I think the classes sometimes miss out if they’re not creative enough to make something new. This past year since I was closed for renovations I heard one of the students walking by my building saying something about a booty ramp. Now that’s New Howard.”
“Wait a minute, a booty ramp? That doesn’t even sound cool.”
“It definitely couldn’t replace my booty wall and that’s for sure,” smirked Harriet.
“Anyway, before all of that even happened, we use to have a bowling alley and that class may have honestly been the LAST of Old Howard.”
“What happened to the bowling alley?”
“It got closed for renovations and I haven’t heard any of the students say they were going there yet and some nights it used to be the place to be. Anyway, I have to go talk to these construction men about my building. Apparently, they took out the Underground Railroad and I keep hearing something about glass walkways and hair salons.” She said, looking adamantly at her building.
We looked at the building together in confusion. Harriet’s interview ended after that, but I finally made my conclusion that the culture at Howard is changing. Sometimes for the better while destroying the alumni’s favorite memories. There is definitely an Old Howard and a New Howard, but I believe that was to happen anyway because cell phones and social media became more abrasive in these generations. There is a change of music being produced. Everyone wants to go to the Howard their parents went to, but they should be worried about making their Howard their own and keeping the culture they have left alive and making new culture in the meantime.