Marieb College Reflects on Current Events
June 08, 2020 / Marieb College Leadership Team
June 8, 2020
To our Marieb College community and stakeholders:
Our country, unfortunately, finds itself once again struggling with the deep racial divides that have plagued its history. The senseless murders of persons of color including Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and George Floyd among too many others have accentuated the continued realities of racial injustice and inequity existing in our society. The protests occurring across our country evolve during a global pandemic that has been shown to disproportionately impact the health and well-being of minority families and communities in our state and country.
Social inequities and violence as public health issues are focal points for practitioners in health and human service professions. These issues are at the heart of much of the work in which our faculty, staff, and students are engaged. We all have a role to play in creating change in our society. The Marieb College of Health & Human Services stands ready to address these issues through dedicated efforts in the areas of education, research, and service. As such, we encourage an honest dialogue about these issues in order to develop steps to address them through our daily activities and relationships, scholarship and teaching, and health care delivery and leadership. During this time of immense challenge, let us work together to be a light to facilitate education, healing, connection, support, and service to each other and to our community.
We also recognize and acknowledge the distress that these recent incidents are causing for our students, alumni, staff, trainees, and faculty across the FGCU family. We encourage you to access the many supportive services available. At FGCU, these services include CAPS, the Community Counseling Center, the Student Health Services, and the FGCU Office of Diversity and Inclusion.
For those of you interested in becoming more active in understanding and addressing systemic oppression and injustice, we offer the following resources:
- American Academy of Pediatrics: The Impact of Racism on Child & Adolescent Health (Article)
- American Medical Association: Violence as a Public Health Crisis (Article)
- American Public Health Association: Statement on Law Enforcement Violence
- Association of Schools & Programs of Public Health: Statement on Racism as a Public Health Crisis
- Council on Social Work Education: Statement on Social Justice
- FGCU Office of Diversity and Inclusion
- Strategies for Reducing Racial and Ethnic Prejudice: Essential Principles
Sincerely,
Marieb College of Health & Human Services Leadership Team
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