AN OPEN LETTER TO DR. HAN REICHGELT
Akin Ogundiran
Dr. Han Reichgelt
Regional Vice Chancellor
Academic Affairs
University of South Florida
Dear Dr. Reichgelt,
I recently read your letter announcing the cancelation of the visit of 14 journalists from African countries to your university (http://health.wusf.usf.edu/post/usf-cancels-african-journalists-visit-ebola-fears-blamed). These Africans were scheduled to visit the United States through an exchange program sponsored by the U.S. Department of State. I have since learnt that only two of the journalists are coming from countries that currently have Ebola outbreaks.
According to Inside Higher Education, The State Department had asked your university whether you would accept two other journalists from elsewhere in Africa. To my surprise, your institution still declined. It is unfortunate that an institution like yours will abandon scientific knowledge and expert advisory from the State Department and from the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Instead, you have stooped down to ignorance and fear. A university that claims international focus and diversity spirit must rise above the hysteria and prejudice of its society. In this case, your office and your entire institution failed to seize this opportunity to educate your students and faculty, and your community about epidemiology and the nature of this disease.
You might have done what you thought was expedient but you have not done the right thing. By the action of the institution that you represent, you and your university have labelled entire Africa as a diseased continent. Now that you have chosen to take this path, are you going to stop every person living in Texas from coming to the University of South Florida? Are you now going to begin policing all international African students currently enrolled at USF? What about African and non-African faculty and staff? Do you know who they are interacting with? Are you going to prevent people coming from Spain (and entire Europe) from entering your campus?
This outbreak is a serious issue, and I understand the need for institutions to be cautious. In your case, you gave in to the primordial fear of Africa that our society - the media and the public - has created. It is unfortunate and indeed sad that by your action you have made every African synonymous with Ebola. It is obvious that your institution is only able to talk about globalization but with your decision you have not demonstrated you know how interconnected we all are as children of this one planet.
In this time of crisis, many of us would have looked up to the University of South Florida to lead in terms of educating our community. Alas, you failed to provide leadership in this hour of need.
Kissi, Edward
Akin,
You have done all of us a great service with your open letter to Dr. Han Reichgelt. I heard about this hysterical decision taken by the authorities on the USF campus at St. Petersburg only yesterday when some USF-Tampa campus staff members brought the news to my attention. From my office here on the main Tampa campus, I have been trying to find out the rationale behind that decision taken by our colleagues on the St. Pete campus. I have been mobilizing some faculty members on the USF-Tampa campus for a campus Roundtable Conversation on the Ebola outbreak in West Africa; the understandable concerns it has raised and the irrational fears it has generated. I will moderate that conversation and I will distribute your letter to every panelist and attendee. I plan to speak with some of the people responsible for that decision on our sister campus at St. Pete . I applaud your letter and I support it. I have forwarded your letter to many faculty members and administrators here on the USF-Tampa campus.
Edward Kissi
University of South Florida-Tampa.
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kenneth harrow
ken
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Akin Ogundiran
Thank you for taking the time, despite your busy schedule, to respond to my letter. You have many fine scholars of Africa on USF campuses. I trust that you will work with them as you move forward.
My best wishes and best regards,
Akin Ogundiran
Chair and Professor, Africana Studies Department
UNC Charlotte
Dear Dr Ogundiran,Thank you for your letter.Unfortunately, your letter plays into the somewhat sensationalist reporting of our decision, which is based on a letter that was written to a very specific audience, namely the faculty and students in the USFSP Department of Journalism and Media Studies. Your letter ignores the primary reason we decided to cancel the event, namely the reluctance expressed by many of our faculty and students to be involved in the program, should we have gone ahead. As I stated in my interview with WUSF, the quality of the program crucially depends on the volunteer involvement of faculty and staff and their interaction with the visiting journalists in a relaxed and open atmosphere. And, as you well know, one cannot force faculty or staff to volunteer. Since we were not able to guarantee a high quality program for our African visitors, and did not want to offer them a second rate program, we canceled.Moreover, given the concerns that had been raised by our faculty and students, we approached the State Department well before the deadline by which we felt we had to make a decision, with a request to dis-invite the visitors from Liberia and Sierra Leone. The State Department refused to do so at that stage, and only made the offer to dis-invite the journalists from Liberia and Sierra Leone until after we had made our decision to cancel the program and had informed our students, faculty and our campus board of our decision. In fact, the State Department did not make the offer until a telephone call late on Friday, October 17. Had the State Department acted on our request to dis-invite the visitors from the effected countries much earlier in the process, we would have had the opportunity to educate our faculty and students and we might have been able to offer the high quality program that our visitors are entitled to.With regards -- Han Reichgelt, PhD---Han Reichgelt, PhDRegional Vice-Chancellor for Academic AffairsUniversity of South Florida, Saint Petersburgtel: 727-873-4324
Victor Okafor
To: reic...@usfsp.edu
Cc: "usaafricadialogue" <USAAfric...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, October 23, 2014 8:51:52 PM
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - AN OPEN LETTER TO DR. HAN REICHGELT
Pablo
Although we have been dealing with other matters up here in Canada, which are as much about mental health as terrorism, we also had put on a panel about Ebola. Really, the hysteria is becoming unbounded.
Pablo