Professor Sherrie Russell-Brown’s Complaint against The University of Florida Board of Trustees, the University of Florida Levin College of Law, and the school’s dean, Robert H. Jerry, cites an e-mail sent by a U Florida law student as support for the claim that “incidents of discrimination and retaliation at UF and the Law School so infect the tone and tenor of the programs or activities that it subjects its beneficiaries, i.e., students, to an oppressive discriminatory atmosphere.” Â Russell-Brown v. University of Florida, No. 1:09-CV-00023 (N.D. Fla.)Â According to the Complaint, the e-mail, having the subject “Black Exodus,” described the departure of African-American Law School employees “under circumstances which [the student-author of the e-mail] believed to be discriminatory and retaliatory and he encouraged other minority Law School students, to ‘speak up’ and to ‘go on the record’ about discrimination and retaliation at the Law School and to not be afraid of ‘retribution.’”
I have obtained a copy of that e-mail. Here is an excerpt:
Over the past few months, we’ve lost several black administrators at the law school … Additionally, the Law School Diversity Committee (which I was a member of) was disbanded because of lack of guidance from the Dean’s office and lack of commitment by some students and some faculty members….I sincerely hope that the Black student body at UF Law will mobilize and as a group begin to combat the issues that face minorities as I have tried to do for the past year and a half. I’m not calling for massive protests. But inaction is unacceptable. It’s time to speak up.
Do not be afraid against retribution. These are just stupid fear tactics to maintain the status quo. The same people that marched on Washington protesting Vietnam and burned draft cards in the 60′s and 70′s are the very same individuals that interview you at OCI and at law firms all around the country. As a student, your speech is the most valuable weapon against the institutional and structural problems at this law school. No one can hold your words against you. So speak up, I know you are fed up. Go on the record and hopefully we can get something done. If not, then it will be as if you were never really here and that plays right into the role you are expected to fill.
It is not enough to just say “this school sucks.” We can make it better. But we have to act. I cannot with good conscience recommend this law school to any person of color or minority. It is simply not a welcoming environment. We have to change that.
A copy of the full e-mail is available here.
-Bridget Crawford
