I covered the initial visit of African-American journalists to the University of South Florida St. Petersburg in 2009, an event that has become an annual occasion — until now. On Friday, school officials canceled this year's visit, with Han Reichgelt, the university's regional vice-chancellor for academic affairs, saying that students and faculty had expressed concerns about the school hosting people from Ebola-affected nations, and thus was canceling the reporters' appearance.
Overreaction? You could certainly argue that. It's one thing to call for a ban on travel from anybody coming from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea; it's another to tell specific people from those countries who aren't suffering from any symptoms that sorry, it's just not a good time. Hope you understand. But that's what USFSP has done.
Reichgelt said he was cool with bringing the reporters to St. Petersburg, but that some faculty and students weren't. Is it logical to do this? No, but fear brings out the worst in some people, and logic doesn't have to be a part of it.
Were university officials afraid that there'd be a big stink if the visit were allowed? Possibly. But the decision deserves scrutiny.
Some people get upset that they're accused of promoting fear when, because of insufficient or incorrect information given out by authorities, two nurses in Dallas have the virus who supposedly couldn't get it. Those were hospital workers, who are undoubtedly on the front lines. Not college administrators or students.
But fear runs deep, or did you not hear what happened last Friday on a flight heading to Tampa that was delayed from Charlotte after someone got quite ill in the plane's restroom? The captain delayed the flight, even though it was learned that the passenger had never traveled to West Africa.
It's doubtful that USFSP will get any pushback, however, 'cause that's just the way things roll.
There is a good chance, however, that you'll see some angry people in Pasco County today, when the County Commission meets on whether to allow Gulf Coast Jewish Family & Community Services to expand its facility to 32 beds to house 16 immigrant children who came across the border from Mexico earlier this summer, part of the estimated 63,000 children who crossed into the U.S. this year, most of them escaping from violence in Central American countries.
That's a total of 16 teenagers we're talking about here. Yet you can bet there'll be people at today's meeting demanding that the Commission reject the proposed expansion because....well, I'm sure they have their reasons, though none articulated so far have made any sense.
In other news…
Lots of political events happening yesterday, the first day of early voting in Pinellas County (Hillsborough begins on Thursday). Charlie Crist spent the night in St. Pete, yet was 40 minutes late to his own photo op as he went to the polls in downtown St. Petersburg.
Meanwhile a few miles down I-275, Pinellas Democrats held their own event to promote early voting. HD69 Democratic candidate Scott Orsini talked tough about his GOP opponent, Kathleen Peters, and the robocalls (purportedly for Peters) that woke up Floridians in five different counties early Sunday morning.
A group of Florida Republican women, including the aforementioned Ms. Peters, held a news conference in front of an Ybor strip club to demand that Charlie Crist return the campaign contributions received from, well, a strip-club owner.
And April Griffin and Dipa Shah are squaring off in the only countywide Hillsborough County School Board this year. Our report on that contest can be read here.