A North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University student accused the school of leaving students stranded amid a weather emergency.
Many are furious about the allegation.
In a viral video that has racked up over 1.6 million views and thousands of comments, TikToker Shakiera (@conceitedshakiera) blasted the school for how it allegedly treated its students.
“So North Carolina A&T literally left all of the students here in the student center with no transportation,” she alleged.
She said the students were told that if they were not “on the list,” they had to go home regardless of whether they were in-state or out-of-state students. Shakieraa also alleged that those who made it to the list received special treatment and were put up at hotels, while the other students weren’t given any accommodations.
“It’s 1,800 students, and they only booked a hotel for 500 students,” she said. “And they said if you weren’t on the list, you have to go home.’”
Shakiera went on to say that the students were given extremely short notice to vacate their dorms immediately. According to her, they were told at 7 p.m. that they had two hours to leave.
“They say if you stay in your dorms, you gon’ get arrested,” she said.
The student issued a warning to the university and said she planned to report the school.
“North Carolina, count your days,” she warned. “This is illegal.”
@conceitedshakiera COUNT YOUR DAYS NORTH CAROLINA A&T @N.C. A&T ♬ original sound – Shakieraa
According to a Fox8 news report, the school forced students out after a boiler broke, resulting in heating issues. Temperatures in the region have been well below freezing for the past few days. Meanwhile, student dorms had no heat.
In the comments section of Shakiera’s video, viewers pointed out that the state was under a National Weather Service warning about frigid temperatures when the students were evacuated.
“It was 9 degrees last night and people are saying some of those dorms don’t have heating,” user Africaqueenz wrote. “Imma need them to be so fr right now. They better give y’all on campus housing money back.”
“Oh just get ready it’s only the beginning it’ll only get worse NCAT don’t care about their students at all smh,” another commenter said.
In an update video, Shakiera said the school “just threw us in a hotel.” She also said her accommodations were not as good as the ones given to other students and that she was brought to her room in the early morning hours while other students were accommodated around 9 p.m.
“I’m an out-of-state student, and the way they handled this was poor,” she said.
The Daily Dot reached out to Shakiera and North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University for comment via email. This story will be updated should either party respond.
Update 4:13pm CT, Jan. 23: In an email to the Daily Dot, Jackie Torok, the Director of Media Relations at North Carolina A&T, shared an update on the situation.
Torok said the necessary repairs have been made to the campus heating system, and heat will be restored by Tuesday evening. “The eight residence halls and the 26 other buildings that lacked heat will reopen Friday at 8 a.m.,” they wrote.
Though the university will have remote instruction on Friday, Torok said it has arranged travel accommodations for the displaced students to return to campus that day. “Displaced students who were temporarily housed at seven local hotels are being offered shuttle service to campus Friday from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.,” they wrote.
Torok concluded, “This problem received immediate, high-level attention, with the priority on keeping students, faculty and staff safe.”
