How Student-Athletes & Coaches are Using Their Platforms to Advance Calls for Justice and Equality
Athletics Veritas is a weekly series aimed at helping higher education executives, faculty, and other stakeholders stay tuned in on trending national issues impacting college athletics, especially NCAA Division I. Athletics Veritas is created by senior DI athletic administrators around the nation.
How Student-Athletes & Coaches are Using Their Platforms to Advance Calls for Justice and Equality
The visibility and voice of Student-Athletes, Coaches and Administrators are used to compel change and advocate for justice
Student-Athletes have been shining examples in using their voice to recognize a real issue and promote change
Resources and programming from NCAA for campuses to promote diversity, inclusion, and understanding and support the core values of the NCAA
Division I Presidents and Commissioners signed pledge to support diversity and inclusion and gender equity.
The troubling deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery in recent weeks have enraged, raised awareness, and generated calls to action throughout the country. How these examples of injustice have been publicly acknowledged within the college athletics community has been a developing matter in its own right.
Scores of high-profile college football coaches, including Oklahoma’s Lincoln Riley, Vanderbilt’s Derek Mason, Texas A&M’s Jimbo Fisher, Washington’s Jimmy Lake, Georgia’s Kriby Smart, and Louisville’s Scott Satterfield, have taken to social media in recent days to express their thoughts and emotions about George Floyd’s death and the broader call for justice, peace, and equality. These and many other statements from notable college coaches and athletics directors like Wisconsin’s Barry Alvarez, were compiled here. Texas A&M Athletics has articulated a petition for Aggies to sign-up and commit to educating themselves on the country’s history, injustices, and current events, listening and engaging in healthy dialogue, and providing opportunities for growth and learning. Conversely, some in the media have noted that many high-profile college head coaches have been slow to speak up and use their influential platforms to increase awareness and inspire dialogue.
One stakeholder group that has largely not shied away from taking a stand is the cohort of current and former student-athletes, who have leveraged their social media platforms to exercise their First Amendment rights, call for change and lead fans and communities in constructive and impactful dialogue about this pressing national issue. Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence, one of the highest profile college athletes of today, tweeted:
University of North Carolina coaches and student-athletes shared via social media their viewpoints on the recent tragedies. The University of Louisville women’s basketball captains and head coach issued a joint statement on the recent tragedies here. These are but a few of the countless examples of student-athletes and coaches constructively using their voices at a very crucial time.
It will be vital for university leaders, coaches, administrators and students to continue speaking up about racial injustices in America, facilitating forums for dialogue to support understanding and improve race relations on-campus and in our communities through listening, learning, programming, and shared advocacy. Division I presidents and chancellors as well as Division I conference commissioners have collectively pledged their commitment to promoting diversity and gender equity.
In addition to the breadth of resources and programming that exist at the campus level (including those institutions strategically decentralizing the diversity and inclusion accountability structure to the unit and department level to increase accountability), it may be helpful to our Athletics Veritas readership to understand some of the diversity and inclusion initiatives occurring at the national level.
The NCAA’s Office of Inclusion has been a source for programming, educational resources, and campaigns to support diversity and inclusion efforts for all college athletics' stakeholders. In recent years, the office instituted a “Diversity and Inclusion Social Media Campaign” designed to be a week of awareness, education and engagement concerning the importance of inclusive environments in college sports.
The Office has also outlined the following ideas that member schools can implement during both the campaign and at other times throughout the academic year to show your support. No better time than the present for institutional and athletics department leaders to purposefully explore and deliver on programming and forums to support diversity and inclusion.
Designate a home event to support diversity and inclusion
Encourage teams to work with their athletic departments to declare one of the home athletics events taking place during Diversity and Inclusion Week or elsewhere in the season to be promoted as a “Diversity and Inclusion Game/Meet.” At that event, Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) representatives and athletics departments can do the following:
Highlight and draw attention to the Diversity and Inclusion Social Media Campaign in general or to specific programming/social media activities taking place during the week.
Invite offices and campus organizations focused on diversity and inclusion to the game and meet and showcase their work during media timeouts, halftime, breaks, etc.
Highlight departments that focus on diversity and inclusion work, such as women’s studies, ethnic studies, American studies, sport management, cultural studies, sociology, gender studies, queer studies, disability studies, etc.
Work with your school’s alumni association and athletics department to identify diverse student-athlete alumni
The information gathered could be used in a variety of ways. For instance, these individuals could be highlighted during the Diversity and Inclusion week, during an awareness or heritage celebration month, or for any event that the school wishes to use in honor of alumni. Participants can conduct brief interviews with these alumni that allow the alumni to reflect on the importance of diversity and inclusion to their career and life after sports. See the “Because of Them…” Black History Month Campaign at the University of Minnesota for an example.
Make diversity and inclusion resources on campus available to student-athletes, coaches and administrators. Your school will likely have resources available related to diversity and inclusion. Work with offices or academic departments dedicated to diversity and inclusion to provide training opportunities for student-athletes, coaches and/or administrators. Administrators, in addition, can think about inviting trainers to one of their head coach meetings to facilitate a training on topics such as microaggressions, having difficult conversations, allyship, etc.
Attend NCAA inclusion programming
The NCAA Office of Inclusion has many resources to help with diversity and inclusion efforts. For example, each April the office hosts the NCAA Inclusion Forum. For more ideas on how to promote diversity and inclusion at your school, check out these school and conference offices that have succeeded in creating inclusive cultures.
To be clear, the above is only scratching the surface. The initiatives and examples noted above generated by the NCAA’s Office of Inclusion are just one entity's offerings. There are many other organizations in college sports advancing diversity initiatives including coaches associations (e.g., the AVCA’s Diversity Award), sport governing bodies (e.g., USOPC’s Diversity & Inclusion Scorecards), Division I conferences (e.g., the Sun Belt’s Diversity & Inclusion Summit), and other groups within the college sports industry facilitating diversity and inclusion programming that leads to constructive dialogue, awareness, understanding and empathy.
This is an important time to recognize the impact of our coaches’ and student-athletes’ voices. It is also time to take inventory of the efforts and resources available locally and nationally to advance diversity and inclusion across our campuses through the vehicle of college sports.
We can transform society through education and sport. More needs to be done, more can be done.
A few quotes to ponder in closing...
“Could a greater miracle take place than for us to look through each other’s eye for an instant?” – Henry David Thoreau
“Yet, taught by time, my heart has learned to glow for other’s good, and melt at other’s woe.” – Homer
“I think we all have empathy. We may not have enough courage to display it.” – Maya Angelou
“Leadership is about empathy.” – Oprah Winfrey
“If speaking is silver, then listening is gold.” – Turkish Proverb
“Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding.” – Albert Einstein
Athletics Veritas is presented for information purposes only and should not be considered advice or counsel on NCAA compliance matters. For guidance on NCAA rules and processes, always consult your university’s athletics compliance office, conference office, and/or the NCAA.
