St. Petersburg higher education institutions form consortium to address racial inequities

June 15, 2021

By Clinton Engelberger and Julianna Jung, USF Oracle

In an effort to create an action plan to dismantle racial hierarchies on college campuses, representatives from four universities in the St. Petersburg area, including the USF St. Pete campus, are forming a consortium to address racial disparities.

Regional Chancellor of USF’s St. Pete campus Martin Tadlock said the goal of the consortium, which also includes Eckerd College, Stetson University College of Law and St. Petersburg College, is to provide a sense of learning and understanding among students and faculty about recognizing racist tendencies and providing support to people of color.

“Our goals as a partner in this consortium is to make sure that all of our students, faculty and staff are able to engage in understanding the racial issues that exist in this community, and how to be anti-racist,” Tadlock said. “[Students will have] many opportunities to educate themselves through a variety of workshops and seminars and opportunities to engage in the community.”

In order to put this plan into action, a team of three representatives from each university will be attending a four-day summer institute, from June 22-25, sponsored by the American Association of Colleges and Universities, according to Tadlock.

The institute will be developing an action plan to address these issues, as well as bring teams from other colleges together to communicate ideas about different strategies in combating racial inequity.

Read the rest of the story here.