'Crackheads were sneaking into the building': TSU students worry about staying in hotels
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WZTV) — Not enough on-campus housing has Tennessee State University (TSU) students worried they will end up in hotels yet again.
They say finding needles and people on drugs was the norm at hotels they were put up in by the university.
With less than three weeks before the first day of classes, student Tolesea Dyson still doesn’t know where she’ll be living.
Dyson says she was put up in a Best Western in North Nashville last semester that’s five miles from campus.
From what she says, it wasn’t a safe place for college students trying to get an education.
"Students I know for sure they were finding needles in their rooms. Crackheads were sneaking into the building and patrol cars had to start patrolling the actual perimeter after a while. It was bad,” Dyson said.
Unanswered questions and no housing have parents FOX 17 News spoke with worried.
TSU parent Anthony Taylor says this is beyond ridiculous.
“It seems as though this has been a problem every single year she’s supposed to go back to school,” Taylor said.
Taylor currently hasn’t heard where his daughter will be living and neither has Angela and Lester Morgan.
“Not sure. Not confident. Not secure in anything. We don’t know how this is going to look. Where we are going to go. Where my daughter will be placed,” Angela Morgan said.
In a one-on-one interview last week, TSU told FOX 17 News, "There is no housing problem."
Now, a week later, in an email to students, TSU says they are offering free online classes this fall.
In the same email, they mention they may not be able to meet the demand for students who want housing.
For dad Lester Morgan, this is disorganized and unacceptable. He adds that the university has given them just a few days to decide if they want to go online.
“And give them three days to make the decision. To me that wasn't an acceptable response,” Morgan said.
But they’ve decided to wait it out, hoping for the best.
Upperclassmen have until Thursday to decide if they want to go online this fall.
FOX 17 News will be staying in contact with the families and bringing you the latest on the housing at TSU.
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