USF St. Petersburg Regional Chancellor Martin Tadlock
The following message was sent by USF St. Petersburg Regional Chancellor Martin Tadlock to the USF St. Petersburg campus community in response to the tragic killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and others.
As a campus absolutely committed to diversity and inclusion and where we create physical and psychologically safe places for all people, we have an obligation to uphold that commitment and live those stated values.
We have a duty to honor every person and every life through what we say and how we act on our campus, in the St. Petersburg community, and across the entirety of the human family regardless of geography. Our students, staff and faculty are daily participants in the world, and we must speak out and act when our neighbors, our brothers and sisters, are harmed or in pain. We must recognize and call out injustice when we see it.
My heart is burdened by the death of George Floyd in Minnesota as the most recent example of how what we value at USF St. Petersburg is not reflected within important segments of our society, so I must speak and act.
I will be writing my state and federal elected officials and my former acquaintances in Minnesota about my concerns. I will express my condolences directly to the family members of Mr. Floyd. I will continue to be vigilant and actively engaged in opposing acts of violence and oppression in our society.
I invite you as a member of this campus community to speak up and act, as any concerned citizen living in a democratic society should, to call out actions that ignore our campus commitment to diversity and inclusion and the values reflected by that commitment.
My thoughts are with George Floyd’s loved ones and friends.
