Chris FrazierWhen N.C. Central University students returned to their dorms last Friday, they likely found a small paper in or in front of their doors.
The flyers, tailored to the different residence halls, included photos of Eagleson Residence Hall and mold, pictures of Rush Residence Hall and a flooded basement, or photos of New Residence Hall and a cockroach. But no matter the version students saw, each flyer asked the same question:
“What are we gonna do about it?”
This flyer, which was made by the Student Panthers, a local chapter of the Revolutionary Student Union, aimed to promote a “speakout rally” regarding student housing on Brant Street on Wednesday at 3:30 p.m.
While the photos and call-to-action made up the front of the page, the back had a list of demands:
- Guaranteed housing for all students.
- Decent housing fit for the shelter of human beings for all NCCU students, this means housing with working amenities, such as a kitchen with a working stove, housing with working air conditioning, and housing free of mold.
- NCCU takes every possible route to ensure housing for NCCU students, including converting unused buildings into student housing, renovating the current dorms, and building new dorms.
- NCCU must subsidize the current housing to lower the cost burden on the student population.
- NCCU must give all the resources necessary to the maintenance staff, including higher pay to be able to complete maintenance on all housing units in a timely manner.
- NCCU must give full transparency to where the 45 million dollars in budget irregularities went and publicize this for all to see.
“One of our biggest goals … is getting Black young people reengaged in revolutionary politics,” said Fanon, an NCCU student and Panther representative who gave only his first name. “And not this lukewarm progressive, democratic representation.”
Devin Freeman, a political science senior, learned about the rally on Monday.
“The only time people rally is when they feel their voice aren’t being heard,” he said. “There has to be more communication between the student body and the administration on how we’re going to deal with it.”
It didn’t take long for these flyers to be posted on Fizz, a student social media app, where it gained more than a thousand likes during the weekend.
Jaiya Murchison, a mass communications freshman, said she learned about the event while scrolling on the anonymous app. She’s been dealing with mold in the George Street Residence Hall.
“It’s just nasty,” she said, adding that her and her suitemates are allergic to the mold. “Us cleaning [the mold] ain’t good for us. It makes us sick.
“We asked our maintenance, and they just told us to spray bleach.”
This announcement comes as NCCU continues to grow. The nest saw a 7.71% increase in enrollment in the fall semester and was the top choice for students in the state, according to NCCU.
This spike increased the demand for housing. The 2025-2026 academic year application was made available on March 3, only to close three days later when it “reached capacity.”
“Currently, a waitlist application is available only for current residents who are not required to live on campus per POL- 40.08.1 On-Campus Residency Requirement Policy,” NCCU’s Office of Residential Life wrote in a March 6 email.
The immediate closure alerted Eli, an NCCU student and fellow Panther who gave only his first name.
“Most of the upperclassmen, including a lot of people associated with us, couldn’t get housing,” he said.
In a statement to the student body, Chancellor Karrie Dixon acknowledged the student frustration and informed the community of the steps NCCU was taking, including sophomores no longer being required to have on-campus housing.
“This policy change will free up more on-campus housing for upperclassmen and allow second-year students to explore off-campus living options if they choose,” she said in the statement.
The introduction of N.C. Senate Bill 596, which would provide more than $160 million to help NCCU conduct maintenance, was also covered in the statement.
NCCU law professor Irving Joyner said students have a right to protest and speak their mind, but he argued that’s different from occupying land the university owns.
“Students [without membership] can put on placards and walk around campus saying ‘housing ain’t shit,’” he said. “That wouldn’t require permission from the administration because it’s not occupying a particular space.”
In a statement to the Campus Echo and student body, Angela Coleman, the vice chancellor of Student Affairs, said the Panthers were an unauthorized student organization.
Eli and Fanon confirmed this was the case, adding that it was discussed before they planned the rally.
“The consensus that we came to is the reason we will not register as an official org is because we’ll be at the mercy of Central’s administration policy,” Fanon said. “The type of work that we’re trying to do, which is struggling to make things better for students and workers.”
NCCU has a history of allowing off-campus organizations to assemble or march, but only after receiving approval. This occurred as recently as October, where outside groups partnered with student organizations and the administration to hold an on-campus march to the polls.
“They had the band and cheerleaders and stuff,” Joyner said. “They got permission from the administration to do that.”
The administration also finds the location to be an issue. The James E. Shepard Administrative Building and the nearby Alexander Dunn Building are not designated areas for public assembly and demonstrations that occur outside of designated areas and without prior approval violates student policy, according to Coleman’s statement.
She then said that students should share their concerns with SGA, schedule a meeting with the Division of Student Affairs and review NCCU’s Free Speech and Free Expression Policy.
“Together, let’s ensure your voices are heard effectively and respectfully,” she said in the statement, “and that our campus continues to be a space for both advocacy and community.”
The Panthers did change their location, which was originally Alexander Dunn, to Brant Street, the red path between the Eagle Landing and Benjamin Ruffin Residence Halls.
The Panthers posted a photo of Brant Street on Instagram Monday night.
“Due to the baseless hostility towards Student Panthers from the school administration,” the Panthers wrote in the post, “we have been forced to change the location of the speakout rally.”
But they haven’t received or pursued prior approval.
“It doesn’t make sense,” Fanon said, emphasizing that he’s a student and American citizen. “What do I need your private approval [for] to stand on a public university campus?!”
With the Panthers being unauthorized, their use of “NCCU” has created another topic of contention.
In the same Tuesday night post, the Panthers uploaded a screenshot of a message sent by “NCCULife” by a person who identified themselves as Vice Chancellor Coleman. In this message, she ordered the organization to “cease and desist” the use of NCCU’s trademark, which means stop using it.
The Panthers have since removed “NCCU” from their Instagram title, replacing it with Durham, but it remains in their email address: [email protected].
And as Tuesday comes to an end, Eli and Fanon expressed confidence that Wednesday’s rally will take place.
“I hope everyone comes out,” Eli said. “This is not the end of the struggle. It’s definitely damn sure not the beginning.”
