SDS rallies for increased Black student enrollment at USF Tampa

Share
Students for a Democratic Society Tampa Bay at University of South Florida
SDS protest at USF. By Seán Kinane/WMNF News (25 Feb. 2020).

For months, Tampa Bay Students for a Democratic Society have been trying to get the University of South Florida to increase the number of Black students.

On Tuesday, about fifteen members of SDS chanted in front of the library on the USF Tampa campus.

Listen:

WMNF News interviewed Eithne Silva, a junior physics major at USF.

Listen:

Students for a Democratic Society Tampa Bay University of South Florida SDS USF
David Jones. By Seán Kinane/WMNF News (25 Feb. 2020).

In a phone interview, USF’s vice president of institutional equity, Haywood Brown confirmed that Black student enrollment makes up about 9.4% of USF’s total and that it had dropped from about 10.3 percent in 2013.

At the SDS demonstration, two or three counter-demonstrators yelled at the SDS members like David Jones, a sophomore at USF majoring in chemistry.

Listen:

Scholarships like the one SDS member David Jones mentioned is one way the USF administration says it can help increase Black student enrollment.

USF’s Brown said that’s something the university is working on.

Listen:

 

Here’s more on the issue via CL.

Leave a Reply

  • (will not be published)

XHTML: You can use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

You may also like

Open carry bill draws backlash

Listen: A controversial bill filed for the upcoming legislative session...

The Scoop: Fri. Dec 20th, 2024, Tampa Bay and Florida headlines by WMNF

New social media law goes into effect Jan. 1 A...

Rachel Rohrabacher pickleball
A top pickleball pro is from Tampa, where you’ll find “great play”

Hundreds of amateurs and pros are competing this week at...

Talking Animals: Founder of sanctuary with big cats and bears discusses challenges of rescuing, housing exotic wildlife

Bobbi Brink recalls living in Texas, planning to open a...

Ways to listen

WMNF is listener-supported. That means we don't advertise like a commercial station, and we're not part of a university.

Ways to support

WMNF volunteers have fun providing a variety of needed services to keep your community radio station alive and kickin'.

Postmodern Hootenanny
Player position: