FSU President John Thrasher -

"As a Florida Supreme Court justice, B. K. Roberts wrote pro-segregation opinions in the 1950s, including, in particular, a majority opinion that refused to obey a U.S. Supreme Court ruling to allow a black man to enroll in the University of Florida College of Law.",

"While many Florida leaders in our state, such as Gov. LeRoy Collins, were moving the state forward, B.K. Roberts came down on the wrong side of history and justice.",

"The Florida Supreme Court recognized this, and in 1999 issued a formal apology for Roberts' opinions - the only time in the Court's history it has ever issued an apology." and 

"Moreover, the building name celebrates a man who defied the highest court of the land and does so at the very place on this campus where we teach the rule of law.", 

excerpts from FSU President John Thrasher's final building namings and recognitions decision which quotes from former FSU President and College of Law Dean Talbot "Sandy" D'Alemberte, "He got it wrong at a time when he should have been able to get it right.", yet Thrasher fails to note that D'Alemberte strongly recommended to keep B.K. Roberts name on FSU's main law school building (see Page 3). Secondly, in order for a court to issue a formal apology, a majority of its members must agree to it, yet upon contacting the Florida Supreme Court archivist and librarian I was told that they could not find such an apology and that most likely neither an oral nor written apology was ever issued regarding the Court's treatment of Virgil D. Hawkins but rather the Court hosted a sympathetic ceremony on May 25, 1999 at the Florida Supreme Court where invited guests were allowed to give presentations. I presented this information to the Florida Senate Education Committee when I spoke, 1:17:30, before them on March 12, 2019. Here is the video that I was directed to by the Florida Supreme Court archivist and librarian regarding the Florida Supreme Court's May 25, 1999 event and if you watch all one hour and seven minutes of it, you will see that no formal apology was ever issued nor did the justices take a vote on anything nor did they ever act in unison on anything other than sitting and listening to the presentation together.

Regarding Thrasher's historically ridiculous, 

"While many Florida leaders in our state, such as Gov. LeRoy Collins, were moving the state forward, B.K. Roberts came down on the wrong side of history and justice.",

consider Chief Justice Terrell's concurrence in the Florida Supreme Court's 1957 ruling in the Hawkins case, State ex rel Hawkins v. Board of Control, 93 So.2d 354 (Fla. 1957), 362, which has, 

"For the purpose of fortifying the premises discussed in the preceding paragraphs, it is pertinent to point out that the legislature on recommendation of the Fabisinski Committee, appointed by the governor, to recommend a method to best handle the segregation question in a legal way, has enacted Chapter 31380, Chapter 31389, Chapter 31390, and Chapter 31391, Acts of 1956, 2d Ex.Sess., F.S.A. §§ 230.231, 14.021, 14.022, 231.36. The first of this series of acts became effective July 26, 1956, and the other three became effective August 1, 1956. These acts, including those they amended, defined a complete scheme to administer the public school system. They were enacted under the police powers to promote the safety, health, order, welfare and education of the people within the State of Florida. 

They also confer additional powers on the governor in that they authorize him to promulgate and enforce rules and regulations to protect the public against violence and property damages. They recognize that the state has the dominant interest in and is the natural guardian of the public against violence. It is perfectly evident that these acts had in view recent Federal decisions affecting segregation in that they authorized county boards of public instruction to choose personnel from all available sources, to consolidate school programs at any school center and to dismiss any teacher or teachers not essential to carry on the consolidated school program.

...  

These acts were passed since we last considered this case, they offer a sound and sensible basis to handle the school problem in Florida which was thrown into confusion overnight by Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483, 74 S. Ct. 686, 98 L. Ed. 873, which in turn overthrew and kicked out the window the recognized school policy approved by all courts in the country for generations. The change has precipitated school problems peculiar to every state in the country. If Florida is not authorized to meet and solve the problem by which it is confronted in a sane and sensible manner, then all the law I have been taught governing state and Federal power has been pitched down the drain.

For these reasons I concur in the opinion of Mr. Justice ROBERTS."

 

Finally and most importantly, neither B. K. Roberts nor the Florida Supreme Court ever defied or refused to obey a U.S. Supreme Court order and until May 17, 1954 segregation was the law of the land with Plessy being the equal protection standard. Plus one could argue that during the Plessy era everyone who lived in the South was a segregationist including John Thrasher himself who was born in South Carolina in 1943 then grew up in segregated Jacksonville, Florida. Maybe in a generation or two the progressives at FSU will start calling up and sending nasty letters to his children and grandchildren or harassing them in the streets (which I have been told happened to the Eppes family and which did happen to me regarding an "alleged" "racial" incident at UF's campus in 2017 which I went to circuit court over and won) because Johnny "got it wrong at a time when he should have been able to get it right" and didn't run away to Canada or convince his family to when he began first grade in the Jim Crow South so now the progressives want to take his name off of the medical school building and humiliate then run his family out of town. It is amazing that today's short-sighted Thrasher is a Vietnam combat veteran!!!

 

The U.S. Supreme Court reviewed every Florida Supreme Court ruling in the Hawkins case except for the 1950 ruling which Hawkins did not appeal and the U.S. Supreme Court never overruled any of them, i.e. B. K. Roberts in fact "got it right when he should have gotten it right", but rather the Court remanded each time with new Brown, i.e. non-Plessy, guidance although for the 1951 ruling they did not grant certiorari. Please see this website's first blue slider titled "Truth, Lies, Videotape" on the Home page for verified Hawkins court documents and for more, much more, information. Thrasher and his advisory panel have only provided unsubstantiated recitations and hearsay, not any historical documents, court records or court reports to support their outlandish claims about B.K. Roberts and furthermore Thrasher is an attorney.

 

President’s Advisory Panel on University Namings and Recognitions Chairperson Renisha Gibbs - 

"Moreover, the College of Law aspires to instill in its students a strong sense of professionalism and respect for the rule of law and the court system. The College of Law’s core curriculum includes a required course in professional responsivity, and the ethical responsibilities of practicing attorneys is an integral part of the law school curriculum. It cannot be said that violating an order in open defiance of the United States Supreme Court exemplifies this core mission of the College of Law.",

an excerpt from the panel's recommendation which is based on pure hearsay and false hearsay at that. See below for the September 5, 2017 public indoctrinating, "researching the issues, meeting and engaging with university constituencies to seek input and feedback, determining criteria for appropriate naming policies and, if necessary, recommending an appropriate process for renaming campus recognitions.", since you do not need to be a lawyer to read and understand the four, combined totaling less than one-full page, U.S. Supreme Court reviews of the Hawkins case. Here they are - 1951 , 1954 , 1956 and 1957 and nowhere do they state or even suggest that the Florida Supreme Court or B. K. Roberts defied any of their orders. Regarding federal court order enforcement during the Eisenhower administration, see this website's fifth blue slider titled "President Dwight Eisenhower, 1957-1958" on the Home page which provides a University of Michigan website link to Eisenhower's itemized presidential papers published by the National Archives of the United States and also provides more specifics on the Eisenhower administration's zero tolerance for those who defied any federal court, not just U.S. Supreme Court, order.

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There are so many abhorrently false, ridiculous and shameful statements and moments in the PDFs below all reeking of institutional cowardice and opportunistic GroupThink that I have decided that rather than itemize them all I will just preserve these PDFs for future reference and FSU posterity. FSU is the 18th best public university in the country? WTF!!!

 

It appears that President Thrasher has decided to prove to his minority naysayers that he is not an elitist Republican hack going so far as to blindly and indiscriminately stomp on B. K. Roberts' legacy and selectively quote from Sandy D'Alemberte.

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September 5, 2017 announcement of the FSU President’s Advisory Panel on University Namings and Recognitions  whose duties will be, 

"researching the issues, meeting and engaging with university constituencies to seek input and feedback, determining criteria for appropriate naming policies and, if necessary, recommending an appropriate process for renaming campus recognitions."

which regarding their most elemental duty of "researching the issues" the record proves they absolutely failed at. Did they even provide any historical research? Many on the panel are FSU professors and alumni.

 

October 6, 2017 the 15-member panel is announced  consisting of the following university students, faculty, staff and alumni  with FSU President John Thrasher asking the university’s chief diversity officer, Renisha Gibbs, to chair the panel. 

Norman Anderson, Faculty, Karen Bearor, Faculty, Kyle Doney, Alumni, Lane Forsman, Students, Renisha Gibbs (chair), Staff, Miguel Hernandez, Staff/Students, Kyle Hill, Students, Robyn Jackson, Staff, Maxine Jones, Faculty, Andrew Melville, Students, Maxine Montgomery, Faculty, Walter Moore, Faculty (retired), Chris Pinango, Students, Janet Stoner, Alumni, Allisson Yu, Alumni.

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MEETING MINUTES -

May 4, 2018 ,  April 27, 2018 ,  April 16, 2018 ,  April 2, 2018 ,  February 14, 2018 ,  February 2, 2018 ,  January 12, 2018 ,  November 20, 2017 ,  October 30, 2017 .

 

TOWN HALL MEETING MINUTES -

March 6, 2018 at Florida State Conference Center

March 5, 2018 at Askew Student Life Center

March 1, 2018 at Black Student Union House

March 1, 2018 B. K. Roberts Hall

February 27, 2018 at FSU Alumni Center