Howard University, home to over 10,000 students, is known for educating and training predominately African-American students for life in and out of the classroom. But there is an underlying issue that students believe is rarely addressed and overlooked. Mental illness.

Arthur McGahee is a junior, nursing major at Howard University. When asked what stressed him out, he said Howard has spread him thinly. Between his workload, the organizations he is apart of and the pressure to always do more, he said he frequently felt anxious.

He said he turns to unconventional ways of dealing with stress which he said only makes matters worse. McGahee said, “what would make Howard better would be more consistent and transparent administration.” He said he's received no support or compassion from the administration at Howard.
 
Taylor Evans, a senior at Howard University, spoke on her traumatic experience with the counseling center. She said she went to the center hysterically crying and was told to wait three hours. She said the counseling center then told they couldn’t assist her, days later, because she was “too well known at Howard.”

“Howard counseling center does nothing for their students, the one resource we have really let me down,” Evans said.

After requesting comment from the university counseling center, this reporter was directed to a statement in Howard’s student newspaper, The Hilltop. This reporter was unable to find the statement. 

A student at Howard, Kyle Brookens passed away on Oct. 29. Kenneth M. Holmes, Vice President for Student Affairs commented, “Howard University wishes to announce heartfelt sympathy on the sudden loss of Kyle. L. Brookens.”  

Though the circumstances surrounding Brookens’s death remain unclear, students question when mental illness on campus will receive a solution.