Members of the UF community raised concerns with Student Government’s Accent Speaker’s Bureau, finding it uncooperative with various diversity programs on campus.
On Sunday, Melissa Johnson, associate director of the UF Honors Program, tweeted at Accent, questioning when the organization would sponsor a speaker for Women’s History Month and asking if it is still “unimportant.”
There will not be an Accent-sponsored speaker for Women’s History Month, which is celebrated in March. Johnson, who used to organize Women’s History Month at UF when it was planned by a faculty committee, said she remembers the frustration of trying to bring sponsored speakers.
“It was a struggle, and from what I hear students tell me these days, it’s still a struggle to get folks to understand how important Women’s History Month is, along with all the other months we celebrate here on campus,” she said.
Diamond Delancy, a UF public relations junior and president of the UF Women’s Student Association, said she reached out to Accent with the idea to bring Raven-Symoné to campus in March.
Delancy, 20, said although she first reached out in August, she had difficulty meeting with Accent. There were emails and discussions, but in the end, Accent chose not to sponsor Symoné and failed to provide an explanation, she said.
“It was kind of a slap in the face,” Delancy said. “It was very hard to work with Accent overall, especially since they’re not very interested in bringing a female speaker to campus for Women’s History Month or at any time.”
However, Accent is co-sponsoring former first lady Rosalynn Carter, who will speak at the Phillips Center for the Performing Arts on March 31.
After reaching out to other student groups, Delancy said she was able to secure a speaker in March without Accent.
“What does it say when you never bring any women speakers to a campus dominated by female students?” Delancy said.
Independent student Sen. Preston Jones responded to Johnson’s tweet Sunday, saying he hoped Accent would work with WSA to bring a speaker for Women’s History Month.
The political science freshman said he is not criticizing Accent, however.
“It’s really hard to bring in important speakers from their respective communities without Accent’s help,” Jones, 18, said.
Corey Flayman, chairman of Accent, said Monday he was unaware of the Twitter conversation.
“We love to partner with different student groups here on campus, and we were eager to work with the Women’s Student Association,” Flayman said. “There’s over 1,000 student groups here at UF, and our goal is to work with as many student groups as we can to bring speakers here.”
Flayman mentioned the recent event featuring Daymond John during Black History Month and listed past collaborations with the Jewish Student Union, Asian American Student Union and Pride Student Union.
“I know (WSA) had approached us for securing a speaker for Women’s History Month, and we were very excited to work with them,” he said. “We weren’t able to find a speaker for both our purposes and goals, and it’s unfortunate.”
Flayman said Carter’s appearance is unrelated to Women’s History Month and there is no finalized schedule.
Johnson said she started the Twitter discussion as a reminder that speakers of diverse backgrounds shouldn’t be limited to the respective months of celebration.
“It doesn’t have to be limited to Women’s History Month,” she said. “One of the things that I would like Accent to realize is that it’s not the only time of year they should sponsor female speakers here on campus.”
[A version of this story ran on page 1 on 2/17/2015 under the headline “Accent will not have women’s month speaker"]
