Several dozen Lincoln University students staged a sit-in this week to protest deteriorating conditions at the historically Black institution located about 45 miles outside of Philadelphia.
For years, students have expressed a litany of concerns about everything from academic advising, the decline of academic programs, and the quality of food at the dining hall.
Among the grievances expressed by the students is the lack of ongoing communication between administrators and students, many of whom are first-generation college students who hail from urban cities like Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, D.C.
Charles Bennett, a fifth-year engineering student from Washington, D.C., says that he’s been forced to stay at Lincoln for an extra year as a result of poor advising. In addition, he says that he was encouraged to take remedial courses that he didn’t need in the first place.
“A lot of people are coming in and being thrown to random advisors who don’t know what they’re doing,” says Bennett. “As a result, you have students who are a year and half behind because they are poorly being advised.”
Bennett was among the students who participated in the sit-in on Wednesday and says that while the overall campus is “aesthetically pleasing,” the campus dormitories are “ridiculous” and in some cases should be deemed uninhabitable.
