Students and faculty members in the Department of Agriculture, Nutrition, and Human Ecology at Prairie View A&M University are unhappy with the conditions of the department.
After being displaced from their home in E.B. Evans and nearly losing some of their farmland in proposed stadium plans, students are finding it hard to feel at home at an institution founded in agricultural principles.
The E.B. Evans Animal Industries Building, located just north of University College, was the home to the agriculture department until it closed during the 2009-2010 school year.
The building was closed because it was structurally unsound, leaving students to take classes wherever they could find room.
“The closure of E. B. Evans has limited student interaction and labs for the students,” said department head Richard Griffin. “It’s a feeling of the loss of a home.”
Closing the agriculture building was just the tip of the iceberg for the department.
Students who have chosen agriculture as a major no longer have the opportunity to apply their learning in lab settings.
Instead, they must seek other outlets for hands-on learning.
Most students have taken jobs on the farm in order to get hands-on learning that they lack in the classroom setting.
Senior animal science major Eric Clemmons said, “I have been at Prairie View for nearly four years, and have yet to have a lab in which I can work with the animals. I work on the farm, and that is how I get to apply my learning to real-life situations.”
The farm at PVAMU was inaccessible for underclassmen until 2007 when a student sought out opportunities for himself and his fellow classmates.
Since then several students, both majors and non-majors, have taken jobs there.
In addition to jobs on the farm, the department supplies the most student on-campus positions.
Most of these positions are in Co-operative Extension and are open to all students.
Although many students are employed by the department, the Prairie View community still seems to downplay the presence of the department at the university.
During “Senior Day on the Hill,” an agriculture student walked along with a group of prospective students, who were introduced to the various majors offered.
All majors were spoken of, with the exception of agriculture and human sciences.
When senior animal science major DeMetris Reed asked the guide why his college was left out, the was told that the agriculture program was no longer part of the university and would be moved to Texas A&M University in College Station.
Reed and his fellow classmates were enraged at this myth, as many prospective PVAMU students showed interest in agriculture.
To keep such myths at bay and create more awareness, students and faculty members of the College of Agriculture and Human Sciences invite students to visit the college and see all that there is to offer.