“Mhm, mhms” buzzed throughout the audience, giving momentum to the speakers at a race and diversity seminar and think tank Thursday evening as they discussed cultural sensitivities and encouraged listening to eliminate discrimination.
The Florida Society of the Social Sciences hosted an open panel titled “Building Bridges, Overcoming Adversity, And Moving Forward” in the Straughn Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences Extension Professional Development Center to focus on race and diversity in Gainesville.
“It’s not about race. It’s about unity,” society president and event coordinator Johnson said. “A threat to one of us is a threat to all of us.”
City of Gainesville Mayor Ed Braddy opened the event with the announcement of the creation of the Mayor’s Community Response Council, which will be established in response to the Ferguson shooting to avoid a similar situation.
The council will include city leaders, including the police chief, business leaders and members of UF and Santa Fe College.
“In the case of a worst-case scenario, we want our community to be able to have the confidence in the local authorities and a transparent and real path to justice,” Braddy said.
The think tank was preceded by three information sessions on race relations, solutions to discrimination and its toxicity on health to provide an important introduction to the discussions, said Michael Bowie, director of Recruitment, Retention & Multicultural Affairs for the UF College of Education.
There were six panelists, including Braddy, Paul Ortiz of the Samuel Proctor History Program and UF Provost Joe Glover, who were asked questions on race issues within the community by six leaders from organizations, including the Institute of Black Culture and UF Student Affairs.
“I am committed to diversity,” Glover said. “It needs the attention every year. We need to pay attention to it constantly.”
He said he’s aware of the problem of the low number of minorities, but by law, the university can’t target any group. UF has strategies and ideas, like more holistic admissions criteria and evaluations.
“It is a difficult problem, and we’re not happy with the state of the problem,” he said. “It’s not easy.”
Then the audience asked questions. Some graduate students expressed safety concerns on campus. Glover passed the microphone to University Police Chief Linda Stump.
“We encourage you to come to us about frustrations,” she said. “You have a voice, and you can be heard.”
Glover said UF is recognized as one of the top producers of African Americans with masters and Ph.Ds in the nation by the National Science Foundation and the Department of Education.
“We’re doing pretty well at the graduate level, but it’s more of a challenge at the undergraduate level,” he said.
[A version of this story ran on page 1 on 11/13/2014]
