DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Leadership at Bethune-Cookman University in Daytona Beach took some time Wednesday to address concerns many have about the school.

From the abrupt exit of brand new head football coach Ed Reed, to students protesting living conditions and transparency — the interim president has had a lot to deal with.

Dr. Lawrence Drake, the interim president of the university, claimed he was listening.

“They voiced their concerns. They have every right to do so. They should be able to do so,” said Drake.

Freshman Cheerleader Zarielle Pickens dreamed of going to BCU, but so far it hasn’t been what she was expecting.

“It was disappointing,” said Pickens, although explaining she still didn’t regret enrolling here. 

She was among the many students who filled the streets to protest their living conditions, saying she often is sick.

“I live in phase D and we have like the mold issue in the shower, under our beds sometimes like you notice it’s not clean. I wasn’t really expecting that when I got here and it’s kind of sad,” said Pickens.

Drake said they’ve spent the last seven months analyzing the over 100 facilities on this campus and have determined about 60 of them need work. He said while these are not new issues, this hurricane season made things more difficult.

“That is not an excuse, it is to own up to the fact that yes there are issues where we have microbiological growth that we are trying to remediate but we have to do that very carefully so as to to displace our students, not to disrupt their education and learning,” said Drake. 

Drake shared that BCU has the money to make these fixes and is pledging an aggressive spending campaign to get it done. However, this comes just weeks after the school parted ways with head football coach Ed Reed, who took to social media to describe the campus as dirty.

“Ed Reed didn’t point anything out that wee didn’t already know and we were working on it and continue to work on it and we will continue to work on it because we believe in that institution,” said Drake. 

As for Pickens, she is skeptical that anything will be done, unsure if the promised communication between leadership and students will continue, but isn’t giving up yet.

“Yeah, I feel hopeful for it,” said Pickens. 

Drake shared that they’ve begun meetings with student leadership to make sure there was clear communication on what the spending priorities are and status reports on upcoming projects. 

As for the football program, he said they are just days awake from announcing a new head coach.