ADDRESSING RACIAL JUSTICE USF’S ST. PETERSBURG CAMPUS AND OTHER HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS ADDRESS RACIAL JUSTICE IN THE REGION Sarah Sell
Nearly a year and a half after protests broke out across the nation in May 2020, the issue of racial justice continues to be in the spotlight. Although work still needs to be done, progress is being made on campuses and in communities. Higher education institutions are working together to address racial inequalities, and students are helping create awareness and change. In July 2020, the USF St. Petersburg campus initiated the exploration of a task force to strengthen its commitment to the city and region in the areas of social and racial justice. It resulted in four universities and colleges in Pinellas County coming together to focus on dismantling racial hierarchies in the region. The consortium includes Eckerd College, Stetson University College of Law, St. Petersburg College and the USF St. Petersburg campus. The group’s initiatives include building a Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation (TRHT) Campus Center and developing a Racial Justice Fellows program that allows students to be involved in the process of racial healing and transformation in their communities.
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THE BEGINNING OF A RACIAL JUSTICE CONSORTIUM IN PINELLAS COUNTY As a consortium that collectively serves more than 40,000 students in the region, the task force addresses racial inequalities in St. Petersburg and Pinellas County. After working for months to create a shared vision and reaching out to community and campus stakeholders, their efforts were recognized by the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AACU) as one of 78 institutions (and the only consortium) across the nation selected to participate in a summer institute to learn about the TRHT framework and develop an action plan. The AACU has been partnering with higher education institutions since 2017 to prepare the next generation of strategic leaders to break down racial hierarchies through the TRHT framework developed by the Kellogg Foundation, whose goal is to promote civic engagement and racial equity. The TRHT Campus Centers implement action plans to move toward the transformative goal
of erasing structural barriers to equal treatment and opportunity on campuses, in communities and for the nation around the pillars of the TRHT framework: narrative change, racial healing and relationship building, separation, law and economy. The consortium sent three members from each institution to the 2021 TRHT Summer Institute, where they participated in capacity-building workshops. The initial goals the representatives worked to develop included how the consortium will: •
Play a pivotal role in racial healing and transformation in St. Petersburg by presenting a collective truth to build a collective future;
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Engage faculty on incorporating issues of race into curricula and providing more truthful narratives about racial history;
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Develop community seminars related to racial justice from a national, state and local perspective and partner with local media;
