41 Nigerian Scholarship Students Sue Alabama State University Over Racism

In a legal case filed last week in a federal court in the
U.S, 41 Nigerian nationals, many of whom are now
Alabama State University alumni, alleged that the school
overcharged them for books and meals, enrolled them in
classes they never took, and more, all because they were
black foreigners.
An ASU alumni, Jimmy Iwezu, who claims the university
intentionally mismanaged millions from a scholarship
fund set up by the Nigerian government that was paid in
advance for every exchange student, claimed that: “They
called us cash cows. I am a black man and I am proud to
be black, but I felt discriminated against.”
The 37-year-old Iwezzu, who is a social work graduate,
cited the school’s selfproclaimed autonomy to do
whatever it wished with the seven-figure sum Nigeria
prepaid back in 2013 for some 41 students to go to the
school.
But the students’ Attorney, Julian McPhillips, who
brought the lawsuit to court for the second time, the
first attempt, back in April, accused the school of
breaching its contract with Nigeria and was dismissed,
suggested that ASU violated Title VI civil rights.
The students alleged they were shorted their deserved
monies by ASU “because of their Nigerian national
origin,” according to the lawsuit. McPhillips, who told
The Daily Beast, contended that ASU hammered the
students with exorbitant “billing” and they weren’t
“being treated like other students” when the school
allegedly inflated the costs of staples like books and
room and board, and repurposed the funds to pay for the
school’s “bond issues” and to help front costs for “a
new stadium,” and, ironically, a centre for civil rights
awareness.
“The school acted in a really disingenuous and
selfserving way,” he said. While most college students
are permitted to bargain shop for textbooks wherever
they wish or dine at different establishments beyond the
school cafeterias, the Nigerian nationals at ASU,
according to the federal complaint, were boxed in.
The lawsuit claims “they were not allowed by ASU to
spend this money, but instead the money was credited
towards certain expenses the students incurred, or
towards other expenses ASU incurred that were unrelated
to the students.” “The school compelled us to buy
books from the book store and eat only at the cafeteria,”
Iwezu said.
“I tried to make them understand, ‘Hey, we don’t want to
live in the dorms anymore, and we don’t want to eat our
entire meals at the dorms.” He said greed-trumped
reason, while also insisting that: “They want our
money.” he said.
Iwezu said the surcharge to live on campus was raised
specifically for him and his Nigerian counterparts. “They
make us pay $3,000 (a semester) to live in the dorms,
and that is more than a mortgage on homes in this area,”
he added.
Back in 2013, a geography professor at ASU for almost
three decades, Dr. David Iyegha, made a pilgrimage to
Lagos State, where he served as the school’s
ambassador to recruit fellow Nigerians with a mandate
to attract its best and brightest to relocate to
Montgomery, Alabama, for their higher education.
“I went to Nigeria with one other faculty member and
recruited these students to be sponsored by the
Nigerian Federal Government,” Iyegha told The Daily
Beast. But today, he is withered in regret, saying: “I feel
very, very bad because I was the one who was
instrumental in bringing these students to the campus.”
Iyegha, whose son is currently on a Ph.D. track at ASU,
feels like he let down so many promising prospects. He
said: “(Nigeria) paid for everything, including their
books, and all of the money is supposed to be given to
the students so they can buy this or that. But the
college refused to release any of that money at all for
the past three years. “While the money was prepaid and
guaranteed by the Federal Government, that didn’t grant
the school carte blanche on how it was supposed to be
spent,” he said.
“I asked them, ‘Why are you treating these kids like
this? Why are you depriving them?’ and after talking to
them at length, they told me they spent all the money
and there is no money left.” An ASU spokesman told The
Daily Beast that “since it’s pending litigation against our
university, Alabama State University has no comment.”
[Credit: The Daily Beast]