The leadership of two historically Black colleges and universities in Florida was on full display this past week, providing us with a glimpse of how important it is that college leaders listen carefully to their primary stakeholders: the students.
Dr. Roselyn Clark Artis, president of Florida Memorial University got it right when the Miami institution decided to award Trayvon Martin — the 17-year-old teenager who was shot and killed in Sanford, Fla., in 2012 by George Zimmerman — a bachelor’s degree in aeronautical science with a concentration in flight education.
For the graduating students at FMU, Trayvon Martin could have easily been any one of them. And had he not been stalked and viciously gunned down by Zimmerman as he waked home from the 7-Eleven carrying a bag of Skittles candy and Iced Tea, he likely would have been among this year’s graduating class, following in the steps of his mother, Sybrina Fulton, who is a proud alumna of the university.
“Florida Memorial University has taken the unusual steps to confer this posthumous degree because your son has come to mean so much to so many,” Artis told Fulton and Trayvon’s father, Tracey, who accepted the degree in their son’s honor.
On the eve of Mother’s Day, Fulton took to the stage with a heart full of thanks.
“Today was just a prime example of what our community is built on, and just watching all the 2017 graduates walk across the stage, and just to share that moment with them, it was very powerful,” said Fulton. “To say that we’re thankful, that’s an understatement. I think that this just shows what this community, how they feel, how they believe in our family, how they believe in our foundation.”
