Clouded Conviction: Milky Way Que, The Final Verdict

The Greystone Experience

Students are Getting Precisely What They’re Paying For.

    Students are finally speaking up about the less than adequate living conditions of the Greystone Apartments at Texas Southern University.

Located less than a quarter of a mile away from the University, Greystone is seemingly harmless to the naked eye.

 The school’s website and brochure also give off the impression that it is the “place to be” for Texas Southern University students.

The modest rent and utility prices are the lowest rates available to Texas Southern students.

However, the apartment complex has a bad reputation among students at TSU, and up until recently, the disdain that many students had the for the apartments in general has been kept quiet.

This is more than likely due to the fact that many students have mixed feelings about the living conditions.

“It beats the dorms, its more exciting, ” said Destiny Jones*, a junior, “But, I feel like maintenance people come faster for the other school housing complexes. They don’t do things when they are supposed to here.”

“I feel like it has its ups and downs,” said Genesis Johnson*, a sophomore, “The programs for residents are good. The location is cool. But everything is broken. And when you put work orders in, they complain. Plus the furniture is horrible. for as much as we pay, things should be better.”

Although the inner appearance of the complex and lack of  proper maintenance appears to be one of the things that bothers residents, it isn’t the real issue at hand.

The biggest problem student’s have seems to be with security and resident assistants and their inability to target the problems that go on in Greystone everyday.

Events occurring over the past few years, including the murders of students Joshua McMackle and Bradley Eyo, as well as TSU being named the most dangerous school in the state of Texas by more than one newspaper has caused the university’s president, John Rudley, to implement a “Zero Tolerance Policy”.

The policy ensures that “trouble makers” are to be dealt with harshly. Curfews and visitation rules have been put into place in all university housing complexes, Greystone especially.
But students seem to feel that security and other forms of authority are targeting the wrong people.

“Security is not doing their jobs. They harass the people that they know live here. But they leave guest alone. Just the other day there was a huge fight here, caused by non-residents. Those people weren’t punished, the people that live here are getting punished,” said Genesis Jones.

Jones isn’t the only resident with these feelings. Many of her peers shared similar views.

Joshua Henderson*, a senior, expressed his problems with those in charge as well.

“The environment needs to better, its hard to focus on school with all these other things in the way.  The problem is mainly security. They’ve attempted to stop things, but they over extend themselves by harassing students that are trying to do the right thing-- I don’t think they should keep waiting until things get bad and then over compensate,” Henderson said.

Other students were far less reserved in their opinions.

“The security guards don't do anything but make us mad. They aren’t getting the people that don’t belong here out, they're harassing the people that live here,” said Ashley Dunson*, a sophomore, “If I want to have a friend over to study, they get drilled at the entrance. But the guy walking around the parking lot everyday that doesn’t live here doesn’t have any problems.”

“Three out of five people that come in Greystone on a daily basis do not live here,” said Destiny Jones, joking about the high volume of students that frequent the complex but do not live there.

According to Joshua Henderson, the problem seems to be the lack of rapport between students, resident assistants, and security and other adults in charge.

“Most of the time, Greystone provides an exciting college experience and if things were handled correctly everything would be fine,” said Henderson, “If the people in charge would pay attention to who’s causing trouble and who’s not, it would be perfect.”


*To accommodate those students that were interviewed, all names have been changed.

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Address the Nation: Students' Views on Barack Obama's Promising State of the Union Speech

By Harold Davis and Raven Blair Washington

Students of Texas Southern University were inspired by the State of the Union speech and have taken Barack Obama's challenge to become innovative citizens very seriously.

Democrats and Republicans alike were able to sit amongst each other civilly, setting a perfect example for American youth of what change and progress look like.

 "When you work together, you get a lot more done that way," said Elliot Miller a journalism student at Texas Southern.

TSU students feel that working together will allow our generation of future leaders to reshape our country.

"Be innovative and create the next best thing" said Aaron Granados, speaking on the message he received from the speech.

Many of his peers had mutual views and found the State of the Union Address to be very progressive.

"I felt like the speech was inspirational to college students" said Menagerie Winston.


 President Obama stresses that the welfare of our country starts with making sure the young people are well equipped for the future.

“We need to teach our kids that not just the winner of the Super Bowl needs to be celebrated, but the winner of the science fair," said President Obama.

According to the students interviewed, our president leads by great example. He has set out to reform health care, change the school system, and create better jobs and is moving towards accomplishing those goals everyday.

"Everything Obama has set out to do, he's accomplished," said George Foreman IV, "He's a president of action."

The students of Texas Southern are excited for the presidents visions for a more lucrative country to come in to play.

"I believe in my president," said Nadia Childress.

Obama's speech not only stressed the need for a better country and better education, but the importance of self sufficiency.

"Our destiny remains our choice," said Obama in his speech.

The future of the United States of America stands upon not only what we can do together, but what we each can do individually.