FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY

PRESIDENT’S TASK FORCE ON ANTI-RACISM, EQUITY AND INCLUSION

09 December 2020

Mr. John Thrasher, President

Florida State University
211 Westcott Building
222 South Copeland Street
Tallahassee, Florida 32306

Dear President Thrasher:

I would like to update you on the progress of the President’s Task Force on Anti-racism,
Equity and Inclusion.
Our work began in earnest with an August 19, 2020 organizational session. Since then, we
have hosted sixteen webinars, and our meetings have progressed between subcommittee sessions
and full Task Force assemblies. Those gatherings have included robust and, at times,
controversial public comment, input in the form of letters and email correspondence,
presentations from experts on a range of subjects, and, of course, lively dialogue between Task
Force members. It is noteworthy that our work has proceeded in measured fashion since the
beginning of the fall term, reflecting thorough efforts to gather data useful in presenting sound
recommendations; near the end of the term, however, the pace of our deliberations quickened in
yielding eight recommendations, each one evolving out of our objectives.
Task Force conversations have been wide-ranging in addressing the broad concerns serving as
the impetus for the group’s formation. Priority concerns have emerged organically out of our
weekly sessions. While some issues presented themselves as actionable in the short-term; others
are long-term in their consideration. Issues surrounding the name of Doak Campbell Stadium or
increasing recruitment and retention of under-represented students are examples of the
continuing concerns we confront. Our goal is to take up these and other concerns next term.
Discussions surrounding placement of the Francis W. Eppes Statue and police-student
interactions are arguably the most controversial, if not politically-charged, matters we have
entertained. Student members of the Task Force have been instrumental in representing campus
sentiment in ways that have not only moved the conversation on these matters forward in a
constructive manner, but also led to recommendations on the Francis W. Eppes legacy as well as
efforts to document Florida State’s complex history in an accurate, inclusive way.
 Our public comment file is voluminous with concerns representing an assortment of
constituent groups – from aggrieved faculty and students of color to alumni concerned about the
implications of an anti-racist initiative for the University’s future. Early on, we decided to task
several Task Force members with the responsibility for monitoring the public input file in order
to determine the practicality of devoting further attention to the issues at hand.
I assumed the unofficial role of Task Force ambassador in reaching out to campus and
community stakeholders while enlisting broad participation in our work. Not long ago, I sent a
group email to undergraduate leaders to make them aware of Task Force deliberations. I have
also granted interviews with community and campus media outlets, spoken at events with deans
and department chairs, and spring 2021, I am the featured speaker at a national alumni
association Zoom session. Also during the spring, I am scheduled to meet in person with
administrators at our Panama City campus in order to advise them in the construction of their
Anti-Racism Task Force. The widespread interest in our effort attests to the importance of Task
Force conversations and the implications of our work for the future of Florida State’s
institutional culture.
As our work comes to a close for fall 2020, I am confident that the pace of our deliberations
will accelerate as we carry out a deep dive into the remaining concerns on our collective agenda.
We present to you our recommendations and respectfully request a written response prior to our
upcoming January meeting.
Thank you, once again, for your willingness to convene this working group. We appreciate
your investment in making Florida State a more welcoming, inclusive space and we look forward
to hearing from you.
The recommendations from the Recruitment, Retention and Diversity Training Subcommittee,
as approved unanimously by the Task Force, are as follows:
1) We recommend that the Office of Human Resources secures and utilizes a national higher
education database and networking tool geared toward the recruitment of underrepresented
faculty and staff. The University should appropriate a recurring $15,000. annual allocation, with
any necessary future incremental increases, in the institutionalization of these measures.
2) We recommend that the Office of the Provost expands the Deans’ evaluation process to
include accountability measures surrounding the recruitment, retention, and promotion of junior
and senior faculty from underrepresented backgrounds.
3) We recommend that the Offices of the Provost and Faculty Development and Advancement
increase funding to the underrepresented faculty hiring initiative, including funds for new hires,
additional funding for academic units to retain under-represented faculty lines, and an extension
of additional funds beyond the current three-year period. Targeted and cluster hiring should
receive special consideration.
The recommendations from the Campus Climate Subcommittee, as approved unanimously by
the Task Force, are as follows:
 1) We recommend that the Office of Institutional Research facilitates a timeline for and
constructs new comprehensive campus climate surveys geared toward graduate/undergraduate
students, faculty, staff, and alumni with a fall 2021 target starting date. That Office will also
devise systematic ways of centralizing the results of surveys for broad access. The University
will institutionalize funding to support these efforts as part of an ongoing commitment to an
assessment of the campus climate.
2) We recommend that the University institutionalizes university-wide events focusing on anti-
racism, diversity, equity, and inclusion, such as, but not limited to, the Dr. Martin Luther King,
Jr. Celebration, the LatinX Celebration, and the Golden Tribe Lecture Series through recurring
funding structures. We also recommend that the University provide recurring funding for new
events surrounding anti-racism, diversity, equity, and inclusion, including a new speaker series.
The recommendations from the Historical Legacy Subcommittee, as approved unanimously by
the Task Force, are as follows:
1) We recommend that Francis W. Eppes’ name be removed from the College of Criminology
building by January 31, 2021 and that an educational/historical record of the building having
previously been named for Eppes be provided on campus. The record would include an outline
of the process for reviewing the recognition and the reasoning for our recommendation that
Eppes’ name be removed.
2) We recommend that University administration pursues legislative action during the 2020-21
Florida governmental session, and continuing thereafter, to remove B. K. Roberts’s name from
the Law School building and, alternatively, provides contextualized recognition of B. K. Roberts
at a designated location within the College of Law.
3) We recommend that the Francis W. Eppes Statue be removed permanently from open-air
public display and curated with accurate historical context, perhaps in a museum or archival
space.

Cordially,

Maxine L. Montgomery,
Professor of English and Chair, President’s Task Force
on Anti-racism, Equity, and Inclusion