{"id":249952,"date":"2026-04-28T18:06:31","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T18:06:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/249952\/"},"modified":"2026-04-28T18:06:31","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T18:06:31","slug":"your-campus-governors-unsaid-speech-at-the-rockys-the-crows-nest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/249952\/","title":{"rendered":"Your campus governor\u2019s unsaid speech at the Rocky\u2019s \u2013 The Crow’s Nest"},"content":{"rendered":"

The annual Rocky Leadership Award Ceremony was held on April 16. It is tradition for the USF St. Petersburg Student Government governor to speak.<\/p>\n

Photo by Makenna Wozniak | The Crow\u2019s Nest<\/p>\n

By Elise Prophete <\/p>\n

It is never easy to do the right thing.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Doing the right thing becomes even harder as others tell you their position is on the line when you speak. Their words mean more than yours when\u00a0you\u2019re\u00a0told\u00a0you\u2019re\u00a0being selfish, difficult, and \u201cmean\u201d for speaking. When you are told that this event was not meant for you.\u00a0\u00a0That alone becomes a sort of censorship, even when you are told that it is not.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Even when you\u00a0tame\u00a0your original words and distill your message into something that makes others more comfortable \u2014 that is still not enough, it never will be. Again, the right thing will never be easy,\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

This\u00a0university exists to educate us, to allow free thought and the free exchange of ideas. The Press exists to hold us all accountable \u2014 to spread the word, to negate the occurrences of\u00a0censorship, perhaps.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

I am choosing to do what is right for\u00a0me,\u00a0and\u00a0provoke the thoughts that I hope are right for this campus. To shift the self-censoring, student-second attitudes back into a space where the stories we have are told and appreciated.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

My name is Elise Prophete, I am your Campus Governor, and despite the context of the Leadership and Student Organizations office holding this event, I was\u00a0not allowed\u00a0to give this speech at our Leadership awards ceremony. I am reclaiming my voice through my words, and I thank The Crow\u2019s Nest\u00a0for empowering me to do so.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Good evening,\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

What a year\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0been!\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

It feels like I was just on this stage, spreading gratitude to each department, which I would like to extend again.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

So, to start off, can we please get a round of applause for\u00a0all of\u00a0the amazing organizations and departments that power this campus?\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

With this immense gratitude that\u00a0I\u2019ve\u00a0felt all year, I have also felt a pit\u2026 an absence of what once was. I feel it right here.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

It seems like over my years here, it has only been growing and growing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And it seems like this pit is something bigger than just me. It might have a name. For\u00a0now\u00a0I\u2019ll\u00a0call it what\u00a0I\u2019ve\u00a0heard in university statements,\u00a0and in the news,\u00a0\u2026\u201cuncertainty.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

This time of \u201cuncertainty\u201d is the biggest obstacle\u00a0I\u2019ve\u00a0had to face this year. This pit\u00a0seems to be\u00a0absorbing the source of my joy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Calculated attacks to hope and community are what I know I am experiencing. I\u00a0can\u2019t\u00a0help but assume that you all are feeling it too.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

I am the daughter of a Haitian immigrant.\u00a0With a mother from the Bronx who has always learned to work with what she had. Creativity and resilience are in my blood, and I honestly expect nothing less than needing to adapt.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0I know this country was not made for me. This state makes it abundantly clear that I do not belong, but the\u00a0university seems unsure. USF allows me to\u00a0represent\u00a0communities that are rejected by our legislature. Our community has enabled my sense of belonging.\u00a0Physical representations like our flags have told me that\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0welcome.\u00a0I\u2019ve\u00a0realized over the years\u00a0that there are spaces for me. These spaces cannot fall into that pit.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0So\u00a0I\u2019ll\u00a0ask: How many times can we rename a program or office until it does not function anymore? How much can we minimize, work around,\u00a0and work with what we have until we become invisible?\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

These are questions\u00a0I\u2019ve\u00a0been grappling with.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The hope that\u00a0I\u2019ve\u00a0mentioned must transform into action. We need physical representation of who we are. Our resilience. Our character. Our diversity and differences. The sense of belonging we create through whole,\u00a0equitable\u00a0inclusion for ourselves.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Student Government, with its pages of rules, is ironically somewhere where\u00a0I\u2019ve\u00a0found my sense of agency. It is somewhere where\u00a0I\u2019ve\u00a0lost passion and gained it back tenfold. Where I have been enabled to act by the very people who fear action. Where\u00a0I\u2019ve\u00a0reclaimed my power, and where\u00a0I\u2019ve\u00a0felt more suppressed than ever.\u00a0So,\u00a0forgive me, this is not a traditional speech, but I did not have a traditional term here.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

In my years on this campus,\u00a0I\u2019ve\u00a0noticed a pattern, and we are\u00a0impacted\u00a0annually.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

In 2023, anti-DEI\u00a0enforcements. In 2024, our flags were removed. In 2025, our mural disappeared.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

What comes next? When do we stand? Or do we become invisible? Reduced to a pit;\u00a0a\u00a0shell of what once was?\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

You all believed in me as a leader. As my time\u00a0comes to an end\u00a0(at least in this role), I want to pose a question to the room.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A question that was posed to me last month\u00a0by one of my mentors, inspirations, and one of the first people to believe in my leadership.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

This is a question every single one of us can answer, but I really want the future\u00a0governor (if\u00a0they\u2019re\u00a0in this room), and our\u00a0chancellor, budding student leaders, and fellow administrators to think about.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Are we ready?\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

She asked me: What story do we want this institution to tell? How does our story\u00a0emerge\u00a0through the relationships we create\u00a0and the work that we do? (X2)\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

This is not a question of metrics, of rigidly defined parameters to measure success. This is a question of action, of real change, real goals,\u00a0and the bridges we build to keep students returning to this campus.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

I know the USF St. Pete I came here for. The USF St. Pete I want to see.\u00a0<\/p>\n

So, in one of my final addresses as Governor, what campus do you want to see by this time next year? How will you make it happen, for yourself, for your community,\u00a0and,\u00a0most importantly,\u00a0for future leaders on this campus?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Please take some time to think about that tonight. We have all gathered to celebrate our community. It is up to us to make sure our communities can visibly thrive, persist,\u00a0and belong.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

My chest feels a little bit better now.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Thank you for hearing me, and for\u00a0electing\u00a0me as your governor.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Have a wonderful rest of your night.\u00a0<\/p>\n


\n\t\t\t\t Post Views: 23 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\"More<\/a>
Written by: Elise Prophete<\/a> on April 28, 2026.
Last revised by: Alisha Durosier<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The annual Rocky Leadership Award Ceremony was held on April 16. It is tradition for the USF St.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":249953,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":{"0":"post-249952","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-st-petersburg","8":"tag-st-pete","9":"tag-st-pete-headlines","10":"tag-st-pete-news","11":"tag-st-petersburg","12":"tag-st-petersburg-headlines","13":"tag-st-petersburg-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249952","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=249952"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249952\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/249953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=249952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=249952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=249952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}