Boarded-up buildings, shattered windows and kicked-in doors now line parts of the campus at Saint Augustine's University, where classrooms now sit largely empty.
The historic university has faced growing security concerns in recent months as the campus remains mostly vacant, with only a hand full of staff members still on site. According to Raleigh police, vandals broke into the campus on May 9, smashing about 20 windows and causing at least $10,000 in damage.
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Neighbors who live near the 159-year-old university say watching the campus deteriorate has been painful.
“They need to know that they are destroying a long history,” said neighbor Gail Scheck. “I don’t think they are thinking about that when they do things like that.”
Scheck, who lives across from the university, said she still hopes the school can recover and welcome students back to campus.
“I hate that it’s come to this,” she said. “I would give anything for some powerful people with a lot of money to come in and save the school and bring it back to what it was and what it could be.”
For alumni, the damage feels deeply personal. Nikki Dublin Turner, a graduate of Saint Augustine’s who now works at Liberation Station bookstore across the street, said it is difficult to watch her alma mater continue to decline.
“It is heartbreaking to see that it is falling apart, that it is being destroyed, that the legacy is being torn apart,” Dublin Turner said, adding that alumni and community members are already fighting to help revive the university, but continued vandalism could make recovery even more difficult.
“We are already fighting to come back,” Dublin Tuner said. “If things continue to get destroyed, if things continue to fall apart, I just don’t know how we could come back from that.”
Despite the challenges, neighbors and alumni say they are not giving up hope. Dublin Turner is urging the community to stay vigilant and help protect the university’s history and legacy for future generations.