WASHINGTON — A student at Howard University said they've been living in a leaky and moldy dorm. In a viral video posted to Twitter, you can see what looks like a puddle of water in what they say is in the kitchen of the dorm room.
At just 17 years old, sophomore Thandiwe Abdullah said the Howard University experience thus far has been less than what was expected.
“We first started noticing water on the floor, I think, two weeks ago. We didn't understand where it was coming from because there was no visible damage to the wall. So, that happened in our closet and in our room area,” Abdullah said.
Abdullah said they [roommate] called maintenance once they noticed the puddles weren’t drying up.
“Maintenance came, they looked into it, and no one tells us anything. They just start ripping out the wall. They move everything out of our closet there's mold growing on the wall in our closet,” Abdullah added.
Eventually, Abdullah said a residential assistant moved them into another room, but Abdullah said the arrangement is temporary. The Los Angeles native doesn’t have anywhere else to go, it’s was Abdullah's first time living on campus since freshman year was all virtual, and now Abdullah fears – they could end up having to pay more for a room if the current dorm room can’t be repaired.
“I would just like assurance that I'll have somewhere to live without having to pay, an extra $1,000, that my roommates will have somewhere to live, and that I won't have to go home, or drop out,” Abdullah said.
WUSA9 spoke with the Vice President of Student Affairs, Cynthia Evers. She said their housing partners were made aware of the problem earlier this week and that the source of the leak was a cracked pipe.
“The residents were notified that water would need to be temporarily shut off so that they could perform repairs and fix the pipe. That was on Wednesday afternoon, Thursday morning,” Evers said.
Evers added that she’s been in contact with all the students impacted and accommodations have been made to keep students in dorms that meet their financial needs.
“The objective is not to make her pay any more money, we’re trying to keep it as customer service [friendly] as possible,” Evers added.