Diversity committee resigns in stinging rebuke of administration

Pictured Above: Pablo Brescia, one of the six members of USF Tampa’s College of Arts and Sciences Diversity Committee, is a professor of Latin American literature and culture.

Courtesy of USF


By Sophie Ojdanic and Catherine Hicks

All six members of the Diversity Committee at USF Tampa’s College of Arts and Sciences have resigned in a scorching letter to President Steve Currall, Provost Ralph Wilcox and Arts and Sciences Dean Eric Eisenberg.

The letter came from former Diversity Committee (DC) chair Pablo Brescia, a professor of Latin American Literature and Culture.

“Given that the task of the DC requires us to publicly acknowledge if and when voices are being ignored, the members of the DC have decided we are no longer able to fulfill our duties and thus must hereby resign,” Brescia said in the letter. (Read the full letter below.)

This letter comes at an awkward moment for Currall and his administration, just a month after a statement from Currall pledged to increase diversity and inclusivity at the university.

“The DC is disappointed that the voice representing the largest college in the university is being silenced, ignored or ‘mediated,’” Brescia said in the letter. “Neither the Office of the President nor the Provost Office have addressed the action plan proposed (by the committee in June) or even acknowledged receipt. This is a cause for concern. As it was stated in our various meetings, USF cannot afford to keep doing the same regarding diversity and inclusion.

“Our effort to engage with the USF administration at multiple levels has ultimately led to a reassertion of an academic hierarchy that reinforces, rather than reduces, the ‘hush culture’ at USF,” the letter said. 

Michelle Hughes Miller, a professor in the Women’s and Gender Studies department, was another one of the DC members to resign.

“I am proud of the work of the (College of Arts and Sciences) Diversity Committee this year, particularly the implementation of the Diversity Liaison program,” Hughes Miller said in an email to The Crow’s Nest. “I am disappointed that our Committee was essentially told to stay in our place and follow the chain of command at USF.”

Sociology professor and former committee member Beatriz Padilla called her time on the committee a “privilege.”

“It has certainly been a learning experience,” Padilla said in an email to The Crow’s Nest. “We took our job seriously and from the beginning mapped what had been done previously, where we were standing and what could be done in the future to improve the experience of blacks and minorities as students, faculty or staff. 

“The fact that the President of USF acknowledged in a public statement the existence of systemic racism created a good moment to act and implement meaningful changes. However, as DC, we were not provided answers (mainly data) that would allow us first to map the situation and then make further recommendations at the college level (useful also for USF overall), which was part of our duty.” 

According to Hughes Miller, Eisenberg has not responded directly to her, but has emailed members of the College of Arts and Sciences’ faculty council, of which she is a member.

Eisenberg’s message to the council on how to proceed said, “it would appear that the committee was so disappointed by this guidance that they chose to resign in unison… While I am genuinely surprised by this action, it is of course their right to do so.”

Hughes Miller saw this message as Eisenberg misunderstanding the DC’s decision to resign.

“I do not believe he fully understood our decision nor the reasons behind it,” she said.

In a telephone interview with The Crow’s Nest, Eisenberg described the situation leading up to the DC’s resignation.

“After George Floyd was murdered, the university and the general population was really angry and wanted to come up with ways to address systemic racism, so (the committee) put together 10 action recommendations that were very broad but had lots of great urgency and great passion,” Eisenberg said. “Instead of sending (the recommendations) to me, which is what they usually do, they sent it to the president.” The DC’s proposed action recommendations can be found here.

Currall, according to Eisenberg, did not respond immediately in order to allow time for the university to build a “coordinated response.”

“Rather than a meeting with the president, I said, ‘Let’s do a committee sit-down,’ and (the committee) did not take it well,” Eisenberg said. “It was meant as us wanting to do it as a coordinated response.”

Eisenberg also commended the “urgency and passion” of the committee.

“I think emotions are so high that we have to make sure we aren’t losing coming up with something real over something quick,” he said.

Last month Currall appointed administrator Haywood Brown to USF’s executive leadership council and named professor Elizabeth Hordge-Freeman senior adviser to the president and provost on diversity and inclusion.

Hordge-Freeman had authored a call to action signed by 88 black professors earlier in the summer.

“I am very excited about this opportunity and impressed by the significant steps that both President Currall and Provost Wilcox have already taken to promote anti-racism, equity, and access at USF,” Hordge-Freeman said in an email to The Crow’s Nest shortly after her new appointment.

In response to the letter of resignation, Hordge-Freeman told Brescia in an email: “I am so sorry that the process arrived to this point. Given how much I know you all care about anti-racism and how well you conceptualized the letter, my goal is to make sure your incredible work gets put to use. 

“I value the work of your group, and I also hope to facilitate more positive relationships between faculty and administration.”

Currall’s statement last month also announced an increase in outreach to black students, the strengthening of relationships between the university and the black community and an allocation of $500,000 for research projects on the concept, origin and consequences of systemic racism.

Despite the resignations, Eisenberg said, the university is “still committed to making these changes.

“It was a surprise, but it’s not going to deter us.”


This is a cause for concern

Dear Dr. Currall, Dr. Wilcox and Dr. Eisenberg: 

The new College of Arts and Sciences Diversity Committee (DC) formed in the Fall of 2019. In one year, building on previous DC’s work and after meeting with representatives from several USF diversity related offices, we implemented a Diversity Initiative for CAS departments and Institutes DC consisting of:

1-Selection of a departmental “Diversity Liaison” (DL) with whom the DC can share information and work to enhance diversity and inclusion in the college. 

2-Meetings among the DLs once a semester and meetings between the DLs and the DC once a semester.

3-Diversity information/training for all DLs and Department chairs received once a year.

4-Brief summary of departmental activities regarding diversity and inclusion in CAS Department chairs’ annual reports.

5-Resources made available by CAS a (i.e. funds, staffing) to academic units to enhance diversity and inclusion efforts.

6-Incentives provided by CAS (recognition-based and/or resource-based) to departments that are making special efforts towards the promotion of diversity and inclusion.

The Dean’s Office approved the initiative. The DC was engaged in advancing it during Spring 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic was declared and then the killing of African American citizens across the US generated intense public protests and reactions from various institutions. The DC asked CAS to take a stand on diversity and against racism at USF; in turn, Dean Eisenberg requested actionable items from us. We created a 10-point action letter sent to several members of the administration on June 16, 2020 (attached). Subsequently, during the summer the DC met with Senior Staff from CAS Dean’s Office, Dr. Haywood Brown, USF’s Vice President of Institutional Equity, and the newly appointed Senior Advisor on Diversity and Inclusion, Dr. Elizabeth Hordge-Freeman to discuss these action points and push for implementation. Throughout this time period, we continued to receive and respond to questions from our newly appointed departmental Diversity Liaisons. 

Recently, the DC requested to meet with President Currall. He, in turn, met with Provost Wilcox and Dean Eisenberg regarding such request. The DC then received a message from Dean Eisenberg stating: “We feel that the institutional strategy will be more coordinated, meaningful and sustainable if we work through existing structures (Dean’s Office, Faculty Senate) and university-wide mechanisms than pursue multiple one-off meetings, unit-by-unit, with executive leadership.”

The DC met to discuss the situation. We acknowledge that USF is dealing with several problematic events (e.g., consolidation, pandemic, budget) and that initial steps have been taken regarding diversity, inclusion, and anti-racist policies. Nevertheless, transparency and accountability about these steps is lacking, with few faculty, staff or students aware of these initial steps or their relative effect on racism within USF. Further, the DC is disappointed that the voice representing the largest college in the university is being silenced, ignored or “mediated”. Neither the Office of the President nor the Provost Office have addressed the action plan proposed or even acknowledged receipt. This is a cause for concern. As it was stated in our various meetings, USF cannot afford to keep doing the same regarding diversity and inclusion. 

The DC has no knowledge of an “institutional strategy” for a coherent, organic USF-wide initiative to address diversity, inclusion and anti-racism. If there is one, the DC has not been included in it; for instance, we have not been invited to the recently created USF Research Task Force on Understanding and Addressing Blackness and AntiBlack Racism. The DC has been told that “many things are happening” and that “there are 13 colleges at USF”. The DC would have been more than willing to discuss and integrate their diversity efforts. The DC also understands that, historically, the “existing structures” at USF mentioned in Dean’s Eisenberg message once again have failed to address these issues. Our effort to engage with the USF administration at multiple levels has ultimately led to a reassertion of an academic hierarchy that reinforces, rather than reduces, the “hush culture” at USF.

The DC represents the faculty of the college, but also considers itself beholden to the college’s staff and students and the entire campus community. CAS can lead in implementing a concrete, robust action plan, and our letter dated June 16 was a step in that direction. In order to follow through with such plan, the DC needed the information requested in the letter that speaks to the present and past records of USF and CAS regarding diversity and inclusion. No such data have been provided. 

The DC’s charge is to advise “the Dean and the Faculty Council concerning diversity in the composition of the programs and personnel of all units within CAS.” Given that the task of the DC requires us to publicly acknowledge if and when voices are being ignored, the members of the DC have decided we are no longer able to fulfill our duties and thus must hereby resign. 

As a final statement, we’d like to point out the inappropriateness of invoking “business as usual” in this unprecedented moment for action, the silencing through institutionalization and hierarchy and the failure of several offices to acknowledge diverse voices in their racialized decision-making. 

It is our hope that the administration earns the trust of incoming Diversity Committee members who will then be able to more effectively advocate for the faculty, staff and students of the college and the university. 

Thank you,

Pablo

Dr. Pablo Brescia

Dr. Daniel Cruz-Arellano

Dr. Michelle Hughes Miller

Dr. Gary Lemons

Dr. Beatriz Padilla

Ms. Kristine Yurek

This story is ongoing. Stay with crowsneststpete.com for updates. 

Aya Diab contributed to this report.


Editor’s Note

This article was edited on Sept. 9, 2020, to provide further comment from Hordge-Freeman, Eisenberg, Hughes Miller and Padilla.

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