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According to a Huffington Post article on June 28, Howard University is the second
best-dressed college in the nation, trailing behind New York University. From the girl strutting
up the hill in her skyscraper heels to the eccentric brother in his own creation, each day brings
something new at Howard.
Ironically, the Mecca may be losing its fashion merchandising department. Shayna
Bailey, a junior fashion merchandising major, expressed that she's upset because no one has
communicated to the students, saying the department is shutting down and that everything has
been hearsay. "It flabbergasts me, the desire for fashion is too prevalent on this campus. We only
have four professors in our department; if we had more money then our program could become
more sufficient," Bailey said. "I feel as though Howard is moving toward becoming a liberal
school. Our school is too creative and artistic for that."
"They should have informed us on what's going to happen and I'm upset about the cut,
I wanted to be able to give back as an alumni," said Alia Smith, junior fashion merchandising
major, "Now many freshman are now undecided because they can't take it."
"In my opinion, its devastating." said Danielle Mitchell, an undecided freshman. "That
was my career path and I found out two weeks before move-in day that they cut the program.
The school should really try and bring it back because that was my chosen career path. I'd
already mapped out my life and now everything's up in the air." Mitchell said.
According to Dr. Gwen Everett, the chair of Howard University's department of art, there
may be a light at the end of the tunnel. Everett explained that she wanted students to know that
there is an opportunity. "We're working within the department to restructure and provide
students with a BFA in fashion design, but that requires the approval of the accrediting agency.
There's a fall deadline for approval and we're hoping to make that, so students can take
advantage of that," Everett said.
The National Association of Schools of Art and Design is also working on a program to
change the current BA to a BFA, which is a professional degree in fashion and design. Senior
fashion merchandising major Damarkis Brown sees this as a good thing. "In the department,
we didn't have enough classes directed towards fashion, it was more so business. The new one
would be more artistic and broader in topics in fashion, which would be better for incoming
freshman," Brown said.
Brown hopes that with the change, students will be exposed to what they should have been
exposed to in the beginning. Brown said, "I feel as though Howard has been in the shadows of
other schools. The new program is broad, but it specifies with the fashion industry; it will totally
attract students and I want to come back and teach fashion at Howard."
Unfortunately, the change doesn't help Mitchell. "The new program the school has designed
doesn't help me with what I wanted to do in life. I planned on majoring in fashion merchandising
and minoring in English because I wanted to be a fashion magazine editor," Mitchell said.
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