Syracuse Orange: Diversity, inclusion training required for players, staff

An ACC committee says Syracuse Orange players and other personnel, along with their league peers, are required to undergo diversity and inclusion training.

A recently formed Atlantic Coast Conference committee for racial and social justice has revealed several initiatives for which Syracuse Orange players and staff members, as well as their league counterparts, must abide.

This committee, whose creation got announced by the ACC back in mid-July, operates under the moniker “CORE” – for Champions of Racial Equity.

On Thursday, CORE unveiled three initiatives, one of which is mandatory diversity and inclusion training for student-athletes, as well as athletic-department personnel and employees who work for the ACC itself.

The other two initiatives are the development of an ACC “unity symbol” to visually represent “solidarity among the ACC’s 15 institutions,” and a “unity statement” that will get read before every league game.

The conference’s unity symbol, known as “UNITE” and which you can view by clicking on this link, will get displayed in venues and on video boards within the league, and also at ACC Championship events and on social media.

"CORE says that the unity statement is as follows. “We, the ACC, are committed to seeing each other as equals, supporting each other, 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 diversity and inclusion training that players, athletic-department workers and ACC personnel are required to attend will occur annually, and the focus of this year’s training, appropriately, is anti-racism.

Syracuse Orange Associate Athletic Director Salatha Willis is on the ACC committee for racial and social justice.

In early July, Syracuse University officials named Salatha Willis to a new position at the ‘Cuse, where he is the associate athletic director for diversity, culture and climate.

Not long after his appointment to this position on the Hill, ACC leaders also named Willis to the conference’s committee for racial and social justice.

CORE’s mission statement, by the way, is “to promote and encourage racial equity and social justice through education, partnerships, engagement and advocacy.”

The new ACC committee has taken numerous actions so far, league officials say. The conference, for one, is recognizing Juneteenth as a holiday.

CORE, among other things, is working with the league’s 15 member schools, including the Syracuse Orange, “to increase voter education and vote, with some ACC schools serving as polling places” and “empowering students and student-athletes to engage with fans around the topic of social justice to minimize misunderstandings.”