USF will remain diverse despite new Florida laws, university leaders say

Top leaders at the University of South Florida say the school will continue to be a diverse institution despite a new state law that prohibits public colleges and universities from spending on diversity programs.

“We have our north star,” USF president Rhea Law told the university’s board of trustees at their meeting on Monday. “We have our mission and we have our values, and we have not changed those. We do not now have an Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. But we are absolutely supportive of access and opportunity for everyone, and we will continue to do that.”

The issue surfaced after faculty trustee Jenifer Jasinski Schneider raised concerns about the impact of the new law on USF’s reputation. National organizations like the American Association of University Professors and the NAACP have recently expressed heavy concerns about the Florida law.

The NAACP last week urged student-athletes to “reconsider” attending Florida schools, with the exception of Florida A&M, the state’s only historically black university. And in December, a report by the American Association of University Professors said higher education in Florida had undergone “horrifying” changes from an “ideologically driven assault unparalleled in US history.”

Jasinski Schneider said USF faculty felt supported by the school, but she was concerned about the national reputation that was spreading.

“It affects the way that we recruit and retain all of our students and also our faculty,” she said.

Oscar Horton, a trustee, echoed that concern.

“I know that USF is going to do the right thing, and we’re going to stay the course,” he said. “But it’s a little bit like my family that lives in Arkansas. When they hear about a hurricane, they think we all got wiped away three days before we even knew it was a hurricane. This subject has a little bit of that same taste to it.”

He said he was confident that, despite USF phasing out its diversity, equity and inclusion office, its values wouldn’t change. The university suspended its search for a top diversity officer and moved the five staff members who worked there into other roles.

“USF is what it is,” Horton said. “But it’s a complicated issue. I’m not sure how we quell that.”

Board chairperson Will Weatherford pointed to examples of how the university remains a diverse community. He cited USF’s Brazilian student body president, a student-athlete from England and a group of students embarking on a hunger strike in support of Palestinian people.

“I think all we can control is what we control,” he said. “We’ve got people that work for USF and our students here that represent complete diversity. We’re one of the most diverse places that I can think of, both in thought … and also in race and gender. We welcome that diversity. It’s at the core of who we are.”

Universities with student bodies that are more than 50% white are considered “predominantly white institutions,” which the NAACP called out in its letter. The student body at USF is 49% white, according to the university’s website.

Among other students, about 24% are Hispanic, 9% are Black, 9% are Asian and 4.5% are two or more races. By comparison, about 54% of Tampa’s residents are white, about 22% are Black, just under 27% are Hispanic, 4.5% are Asian and about 14% are two or more races, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Weatherford said he hoped to keep USF out of the national debate about how diversity and the role of government is discussed.

“All I can say is my commitment as board chair is to being a diverse place — racially, gender, of thought, all those things,” he said. “We just have to stay committed to that and I’ve just tried to keep us out of the fray of the political dynamic, because that’s not where we belong. We have laws we have to follow. We have statutes that we have to abide by. We do. But I feel like there’s a lot more noise around this issue than there is actual substance.”

Trustee Mike Carrere asked if the university would still be operating under the same mindset of supporting diversity even after complying with recent laws. Law assured him it would.

“I think it’s going to be important down the road, whether it’s a week or a year or many years from now, that we can demonstrate and show where we are still doing that,” Carrere said.

Divya Kumar covers higher education for the Tampa Bay Times, working in partnership with Open Campus.