Biology Students Petition Yield Results in Acquiring Better Resources

In a final attempt to get the attention of President Sidney A. Ribeau, 800 students in the biology department signed a petition to alert him of the extremely poor conditions in the buildings and lack of resources that they deal with daily.

In the last few years, several faculty members have retired or departed from the school. Now, there are about 100 students to one professor which makes it virtually impossible to connect individually with each student.

A professor in the biology department, who chose to remain anonymous, described the conditions as overcrowded and inadequate. The professor also said that the curriculum is lacking the essential areas of learning which are general and developmental biology, physiology, and genetics.

Sahara Pradhan, a junior biology major, is seriously concerned about the state of finances within the biology department. Pradhan said that she paid up to $75 to the department, like other Howard students, to cover the costs and fees that allow her to use the necessary resources and laboratories that are provided.

However, Pradhan said that because Howard has not received the materials needed for a lab in a class that she is taking, an entire week of classes was cancelled, wasting her money and leaving her to miss educational opportunities.

"Every year, the biology department gets its supply on July 20, but this year we haven't received our supplies. Like every student in Howard, we pay our lab fee, but in return we haven't got any service from the school," Pradhan said.

Sophomore biology major Mariah Bullock feels the same way. Although she receives scholarships to cover the costs of her lab fees, she still believes that there are resources that are lacking and are detrimental to learning, and without them, money is wasted.

"Last semester, my genetics course missed at least two labs because the supplies were not available. As a student, it makes me think if the department thought it was important enough to include in the course it must be relevant and now I am missing out on learning something I may need in the future," Bullock said.

Bullock also believes that educational cutbacks should not affect the budget included for the biology labs because the money that students pay should only be used for needs in the biology department, and should not be mismanaged.

"I don't believe that is an excuse for the lack of resources because lab fees should be spent on labs alone. In my opinion, there needs to be more precautions taken and attention paid to the labs, and what materials are needed before the semester begins," Bullock said.

The biology department costs students hundreds of dollars in lab fees and in technical laboratory manuals and books, which are, according to sophomore biology major Shakira Jarvis, barely used because there is a lack of resources needed to complete many of the labs from the manuals.

"I think it comes down to a misuse of funds. We pay lab fees every semester for each lab, fees that end up being upwards of $200 a semester, and when we get to class the materials aren't delivered yet, glassware is in short supply or broken, and we sometimes don't have the right materials for the lab," Jarvis said.

"On top of that, we buy lab manuals for $160 and we barely use them because we don't have the right materials. Labs cost students a lot of money, and we are getting majorly short changed," Jarvis said.

The student petition has been submitted to the provost of the university, and plans are in action for a representative from the biology department to meet with the administrators about the predicament.