Dear Barry Law Community,
The Dwayne O. Andreas School of Law joins our Barry University President in denouncing the senseless and unjust death of George Floyd. As legal educators and current and future attorneys, we must use our talents and passion to effectuate lasting systemic change in alignment with our University Mission and Core Commitments which call on all members of our community to accept social responsibility, strive for equality, and engage in meaningful efforts toward social change.
We share in the outrage over this act of inhumanity and we, as law students and attorneys, have the ability to not just speak out against injustice, but to fiercely advocate for meaningful and thoughtful reform in our criminal justice and legal systems. This must stop. Although some may ruminate about the progress that has been made in the area of race relations, the death of George Floyd, and that of many who came before him, painfully illustrates how short we fall as a society when it comes to real transformation.
I stand with our students, faculty, staff and community in articulating this pain. To this end, key members of the Law School community, including students, are engaged in discourse to identify means we can employ in order to make a lasting difference. We have the tools to work toward a more just legal system that is a conduit to ensuring accountability, and we must use them. We cannot stay silent. I call on the entire Barry Law community to unite in actively seeking solutions within our legal framework to bring an end to ongoing systemic racial injustice.
Sincerely,
Leticia M. Diaz, Ph.D., J.D.
Dean and Professor of Law
Barry University School of Law