As everyone should know by now, Florida A&M University was named the number one school for blacks in the nation by Black Enterprise magazine. Black Enterprise stated that FAMU went from sixth place in 2004 to first place in 2006, ranking even higher than the Ivy League school Harvard University.
But why does it seem I’m still hearing negative things about FAMU every day?
Why is it that when FAMU does anything positive, you rarely, if ever, see it on the news or read a big spread about it in other local and statewide papers? But when FAMU is experiencing some tough times, that is all you hear.
It is not enough to hear it from outsiders, but when I cannot even talk about my school with other Famuans without the popular “what ain’ts,” I start to get pissed off.
Yes, the financial aid office and personnel can get better at disbursing money and getting its information in order. And OurFAMU can be down at times when you need to check something extremely important.
But instead of bashing the school, let’s try to come up with some solutions.
I am so sick of people, especially FAMU students, complaining about the school. And when you ask them about ways to fix the problem, they get silent.
They ramble about how bad the school is, but when someone was sent here to get things back in order, she was called all sorts of names. FAMU is no longer in debt thanks to our own Joe Clark.
It is time to stop complaining and start coming up with sensible solutions.
I do not have the answers to some of the school’s problems. And with most of the problems, I do not even know where to start.
But I can guarantee you this, you will not hear me criticizing FAMU unless I can offer advice on how the school can better the situation.
FAMU is not just the Set. We have excellent colleges, schools, programs, academic organizations, faculty and administrators that are here to uplift the school.
Unfortunately FAMU is not backed by the financial contributions bigger universities have at their disposable. For this, I say you should think about giving back after you graduate.
At any rate, I am proud to say I am a faithful Rattler until the day I die.
I love this school with all of its faults because I know it can only get better.
After all, we all need to try to better FAMU, because at the end of the day, all of us will have Florida A&M University on our degrees.
And don’t you want that name to stay prominent?
I know I do.
Katrelle Simmons is a junior English education student from Orlando. She can be reached at simmons_katrelle@yahoo.com.