Legacy Over
Image
The
Letter
In early August 2020, the Minority Student-Athlete Collective (MSAC)
made their demands public when they released their open letter to the University of Nebraska's Athletic Department. Below is the letter in full, as tweeted by MSAC member and basketball player,
Sammi Haiby.
Here at Nebraska Athletics, we are taught to strive for excellence on the field, in the classroom, and within the community. The events of the past few months have shown that our nation, our communities, and our university have not reached the pinnacle of excellence.. have seen first-hand that racism and discrimination still exist within the fabric our nation. Our university and athletic department are no exception. To fully achieve the level of excellence that we have been taught to strive towards at Nebraska, we must make the necessary changes to ensure that truly, "There is truly no place like Nebraska."
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As there are no professional teams that call Nebraska home, we, the Nebraska student-athletes, are the standard and face of the state. We are expected to represent ourselves, our teams, the university, and the state of Nebraska with respect and dignity. This affords us a unique position and platform that we intend to use to be the change we need in the world. Our nation and state suffer from systemic racism and prejudices that we can no longer ignore. It is our responsibility is to call out racism and injustices that occur to better ourselves and the community.
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It is our goal as student-athletes at Nebraska to hold our athletic department to the standard that it has already set for itself that, "We are committed to providing to every member of our family with a safe, welcoming and inclusive environment." It is very important to recognize that the experience of minority student-athletes is unique. Thus, certain changes need to be made in order to make our athletic department a place where all student-athletes can be successful and comfortable. We give so much of our time, energy, and dedication to our teams and the athletic department. As such, we expect the same level of urgency and dedication by our athletic department in meeting our requests.
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We are requesting the following:
1. We need the administration and staff of Nebraska Athletics to represent the student-athlete body. The student-athlete minority population is significantly higher than the staff minority population. This leads to the isolation and tokenization of minority staff within
their respective departments. We want representation at all levels within athletics:
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We need multiple people of color (POC) serving as senior administrators within Nebraska Athletics.
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We need multiple POC serving as head coaches within Nebraska Athletics.
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We need multiple POC serving as psychologists within Nebraska Athletics.
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We need multiple POC serving in positions within their respective departments that have hiring power within Nebraska Athletics.
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We need the gap between the minority staff population and minority student-athlete population to be non-existent within 5 years.
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Within 3 years we want the gap to shrink by 50% and within 5 years for it to be nonexistent.
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We want the information regarding the racial, ethnic, and gender diversity of Nebraska Athletics made public. This information is to be released annually at the end of every fiscal year in order to hold Nebraska Athletics accountable to meeting said benchmarks in the future.
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b. We need a memorial dedicated to George Flippin, the first African-American football player to compete for Nebraska.
We need a PUBLIC acknowledgement of the wrongdoing and racism Mr. Flippin experienced in being denied a captainship of Nebraska Football in 1893 by Coach Frank Crawford.
i. We want George Flippin to be finally recognized as a Nebraska Football captain
and his picture be placed alongside the Nebraska Football captains in Memorial Stadium.
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We need the inclusion of modules for incoming freshmen discussing the history of racism on campus and providing racial injustice awareness.
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We need all coaches, staff, and faculty to annually take part in workshops centered around, racism, discrimination, and non-bystander training.
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We need 0.5% of annual athletic department proceeds to be donated to black owned businesses in our community and charities/organizations that support and serve black youth and the black community.
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We need all athletic teams and departments within Nebraska Athletics to adopt a non-tolerance policy with regards to racial, ethnic, gender, religious, sexual orientation, and gender identity discrimination.
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We need a PUBLIC statement released acknowledging the Black Lives Matter movement and that states, "Black Lives Matter."
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[1] “George Flippin - No. 98 - Nebraska's Greatest Athletes.” George Flippin - No. 98 - Nebraska's 100 Greatest Athletes - The Omaha World-Herald, dataomaha.com/neb100/player/98.
[1] Putz, Paul. “Nebraska Made a Black Man Its Football Captain in 1894. Then It Turned on Him.” Slate Magazine, Slate, 13 Nov. 2020, slate.com/culture/2020/11/george-flippin-nebraska-first-black-football-player.html.
[1] KIRSHENBAUM, JERRY. “PAUL ROBESON: REMAKING A FALLEN HERO.” Sports Illustrated, 27 Mar. 1972, vault.si.com/vault/1972/03/27/paul-robeson-remaking-a-fallen-hero.
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