“We are elected representative students fighting for students and advocating for equality and equity among all three campuses.”
Courtesy of Jadzia Duarte
By Dylan Hart
The Student Government executive branch made its intentions clear last week with a letter to USF President Steven Currall: Keep the St. Petersburg campus’ identity alive.
Student Body President Jadzia Duarte and Vice President Hannah Rose Wanless signed the letter, written in response to Currall’s “preliminary blueprint” on consolidation posted last month.
The recommendations in the blueprint left vague guidelines for the transition of our Student Government to a singular, university-wide SG, alongside a single student fee structure.
The changes mean that students would pay the same activities and service fee, regardless of their campus.
Duarte and Wanless say that because USF St. Petersburg is designated as a branch campus, it should retain its “authority to hire and fire faculty, and staff,” and its “authority and autonomy over a campus budget.”
Both are up in the air under consolidation. A structure for hiring staff has not yet been clearly defined, and a move to a university-wide SG system could take budget control away from the direct oversight of the campus’ senate.
Additionally, Duarte and Wanless expressed a desire to retain Regional Chancellor Martin Tadlock and to keep the campus’ name intact.
“Consolidation was said to provide opportunities that the three campuses, while separately accredited, would not be able to achieve otherwise,” the letter said. “While separately accredited, each campus has had time to evolve and succeed. The faculty and organizations have worked hard to build an experience that the students will love.”
This is a letter that the Student Government executive branch sent to USF system President Steven Currall on Oct. 2.
Dear USF System President Currall,
I want to start off by thanking you for all that you’ve done so far in your tenure here at USF. You’ve conducted a listening tour to hear from all vested bodies at each campus, you’ve put forth effort in understanding all that we have to offer. Now, I’d like for you to listen to the students, specifically here at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg. Consolidation was said to provide opportunities that the three campuses, while separately accredited, would not be able to achieve otherwise. Consolidation should allow all three campuses to grow and thrive, because through it, we are all one University, one USF.
While separately accredited, each campus has had time to evolve and succeed. The faculty and organizations have worked hard to build an experience that the students will love. USFSP has worked hard to become the University it is today. The students who attend USFSP chose to come here for a reason. They appreciate the small campus, the faculty, and the programs we have available. As the University decides what consolidation looks like, the students should be at the forefront of our thoughts. Consolidation should be working to help programs expand across the board, not limiting them for the sake of one campus over another. We want to ensure that this consolidation process be student centered and the students are still going to be given the opportunities to succeed at USFSP.
USFSP is my home. From the second I stepped foot on campus I knew it was going to be different than the others. From the welcoming tour guides, to the genuine orientation leaders, to the fantastic Compass student experience team, to the understanding professors these are just some of the people who reassured me that the St. Petersburg campus is the place I was meant to be. I’ve been able to create and be apart of so many different groups and organizations that I call my Bull family. Whenever I’m on campus I always see a familiar face, I can chat with my favorite professor, or even grab a coffee with my administration, they all reassure me that I belong here. I’m proud to be a USFSP bull and proud to call this campus my home, I want others to have the opportunity to have these connections with everyone on this campus.
Representative Ben Diamond touched on branch campus relationships at a recent legislative delegation meeting after re-reading the language in the Florida Law. Branch campuses are supposed to:
• Have authority to hire and fire faculty, and staff.
• Have authority and autonomy over a campus budget.
We have made USFSP a home for all students who decided to attend, with no potential authority we’ll be in real jeopardy. As legislators have already stressed this point– we want to ensure that the USF system is following the spirit of the law in regards to consolidation.
Students who chose to come to USFSP deserve the same quality education that they received before consolidation. This comes from:
• Regional Chancellor Dr. Martin Tadlock to serve the university in the capacity that he has been. Dr. Tadlock knows the campus, and through him it has become the amazing university it is today.
• Allowing USFSP the autonomy to hire faculty and staff, and curate the professors and the programs students deserve.
• Retaining our name University of South Florida St. Petersburg
Taking away the campuses ability to hire staff and faculty is detrimental to its growth and ability to serve its student body.
We understand that this is a difficult time for everyone, and that change takes time to get used to. We at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg campus just hope that you keep us in your mind when making the final decision on consolidation. We are elected representative students fighting for students and advocating for equality and equity among all three campuses. Thank you for your time and we appreciate your engagement on this issue and look forward to engaging with you further. It is my expectation that you consider the students voice as we near final decisions on consolidation. I welcome any opportunity that may exist for me to support you in thinking through the discussed topics of concern.
Regards,
Jadzia Duarte
Student Body President, University of South Florida St. Petersburg Student Government
Hannah Rose Wanless
Student Body Vice President, University of South Florida St. Petersburg Student Government
A previous version of this story misstated the scope of the budgetary and hiring authority that the St. Petersburg campus would have under Currall’s preliminary blueprint.
St. Petersburg would have that authority only over non-academic operations.
