Sam Phillips

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Men's Gymnastics

Sophmore

Hospitality, Restaurant & Tourism Management

Woodland Hills, California

Sam Philips is a sophomore gymnast at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, studying hospitality, restaurant, and tourism management. Sam is a member of MSAC, which he says has “brought awareness to some problems within admin and writing student athletics”

“There is no systemic racism within the Nebraska athletics program,” Sam said. “I don’t believe that there is a system in place that downgrades or that hurts black athletes. We just believe there is not enough awareness surrounding the subject.”

Sam explains that this lack of awareness “hurts [them] and makes them feel isolated and alone, especially with movements like this.”

Because of this, the main goal of MSAC is to bring awareness to racial inequality and provide a space for minority student-athletes to have open discussions.

“The problem is that they don't want to address these problems,” Sam said. “We don't think that Nebraska athletics is actively discriminating against black athletes, we just feel like there could be more support, more awareness, and more opportunities for them.”

As well as requesting support and awareness for minority student-athletes, MSAC provided a space for those athletes to feel a sense of community with the other athletes in the group.

“MSAC is one of the best things that happened to me at Nebraska,” Sam said. “It gave me an opportunity to connect with other black athletes and it gave me a sense of community, a sense of family.”

“With the Black Lives matter protests, I have found my voice as a person, and I have found my voice as a black person.” OR “You look at a country that is supposed to be on your side, and throughout history it’s never been on your side. No matter what they say, no matter what they do, it has never been on your side.”