Syracuse Orange: Salatha Willis on ACC panel for racial & social justice
By Neil Adler
The ACC has formed a committee for racial and social justice, and Syracuse Orange associate athletic director Salatha Willis is on the panel.
Salatha Willis, recently named to the new Syracuse Orange position of associate athletic director for diversity, culture and climate, is also now on a newly created Atlantic Coast Conference committee that will focus on similar issues.
The ACC has announced the forming of a new committee for racial and social justice, whose “vision is to lead in college athletics by promoting and instilling racial and social justice, and equity for all.”
All of the ACC’s 15 member institutions have designated a campus representative to the committee. For Syracuse, its representative is Willis.
This new ACC panel, operating with the moniker “CORE” (Champions Of Racial Equity), formed last month and conducted its first meeting with Willis and the other campus representatives earlier this week, according to the league’s press release.
Mary McElroy, an ACC senior associate commissioner, is the committee’s chair. CORE also includes numerous other people within the conference’s office, who are working with the campus representatives and members of the student-athlete advisory committee from every ACC school.
"Per the statement from the league, the new committee’s mission is “to promote and encourage racial equity and social justice through education, partnerships, engagement and advocacy. The ACC is committed to seeing all people as equals and treating each other with respect and dignity at all times, recognizing that our differences don’t divide us, but they make us stronger.”"
The panel’s primary goals include creating meaningful, lasting change, having representation at all levels that reflects the make-up of the student-athlete population, accountability in hiring, the inclusion and empowerment of diverse individuals, integrity, and fairness.
On July 6, Orange athletics director John Wildhack announced that he had named Willis as associate athletic director of diversity, culture and climate, a newly established post at the ‘Cuse.
Formerly the associate director of Syracuse’s Office of Student-Athlete Academic Development, Willis in his new position is tasked with developing and then implementing new approaches to create a highly engaged, inclusive and equitable culture for all Orange student-athletes, administrators, coaches and staff members in the athletics department.