Hawk student athletes, many wearing their respective teams’ warm-up and practice gear, sat among 1,800 St. Joe’s community members in Michael J. Hagan ’85 Arena on Nov. 4. The gathering was held in response to four reported racial bias incidents that occurred on campus this semester.
Jill Bodensteiner, J.D., director of athletics, said her expectation for the entire St. Joe’s Athletics community and staff was clear: “be there.”
“I expect our student athletes, our coaches and our staff to be leaders,” Bodensteiner said. “This has to be a shared commitment from the entire community. We’ve got to come together as a full group and make sure that there’s change.”
Bodensteiner sent an email to the St. Joe’s athletics community approximately two hours after the gathering in Hagan. Bodensteiner touched on her sadness and frustration toward the recent “hateful speech” that has been reported on campus.
“There is simply no place for hate in Saint Joseph’s Athletics,” Bodensteiner said in her Nov. 4 email addressed to the athletics community. “For those in our athletics family who are subject to hurtful remarks or conduct, know that you have allies among your teammates, coaches and administrators, and we stand ready to help you in any way that we can.”
During the gathering, the entire women’s basketball team sat together in Hagan, the same building they play and practice in almost every day. Sophomore guard Devyne Newman said it was important to show that athletics is involved in making a change.
“It’s important to show unity so we demonstrate as a community that we need to be united against these things and not divided,” Newman said.
Due to their exposure in representing St. Joe’s on and off campus, student athletes are in a position to lead and bring attention to discussions surrounding race, according to Ian Crookenden, the men’s and women’s tennis head coach.
“We are a team and a community,” Crookenden said. “We’re a segment of the community that’s identifiable through our sport. I want the team to remember that we represent and display the community as a whole.”
Sophomore Asia Whittenberger, the current women’s basketball Hawk and former women’s soccer goalkeeper, spoke at the forum and agreed with Crookenden’s sentiment. She said student athletes have an enhanced responsibility to lead these discussions.
“Athletes, and the athletics department, hold one of the most looked up to roles on campus,” Whittenberger said. “If the athletics department is speaking on race issues, people will listen.”
Throughout her time at St. Joe’s, Whittenberger has looked up to Bodensteiner as a mentor.
Whittenberger said having people of color in positions of power is critical in order to lead discussions on race. That’s something Bodensteiner has prioritized, according to Whittenberger.
“She takes notice and she takes action,” Whittenberger said.
In terms of exposure, student athletes are not only seen more frequently on campus, but off it as well. Crookenden said players need to behave and perform in a manner that reflects well on the school wherever they go.
“That’s why we wear the logo,” Crookenden said.
Through the forum, Newman learned about exposure on a more personal level.
“I’m biracial so I almost hide from the conversation just because I don’t want to be involved on either side,” Newman said. “[I want to] embrace it now and be who I am.”
While Bodensteiner wants student athletes to be leaders in discussing issues of race, she also wants to hold them accountable if they are to ever be involved in a racial bias incident like the four that have been reported this semester.
The Hawk reported last spring that four white students, two of whom are student athletes on the men’s lacrosse team, directed the n-word multiple times at a student of color in Sourin Hall on April 4.
“You better believe that if a student athlete is found responsible [for a racial bias incident] and has not somehow experienced an outcome from the university that meets our expectations, [the athletics department] will deal with it,” Bodensteiner said.
