Student-Athletes for Social Justice (SA4SJ)
SA4SJ Mission Statement
In keeping with the Mission of Loyola University Maryland:
Loyola University Maryland is a Jesuit, Catholic university committed to the educational and spiritual traditions of the Society of Jesus and to the ideals of liberal education and the development of the whole person. Accordingly, the University will inspire students to learn, lead, and serve in a diverse and changing world.
Student-Athletes for Social Justice (SA4SJ) is dedicated to transforming the climate for Loyola University Maryland student-athletes, coaches, staff and administrators by developing and creating a more inclusive environment, with a focus on the Black Lives Matter movement, LGBTQ+ communities, and other marginalized groups.
SA4SJ Vision Statement
Our vision is to support and advocate for marginalized groups on our campus, while educating members of the Loyola community that do not identify with these groups.
Points of Contact
Work to Date
Pride Celebration
Student-Athletes for Social Justice partnered with Messina, ALANA, the Counseling Center, the Women’s Center, OUTLoyola, The LGBTQ+ Experience, and Spectrum to have a Pride celebration. Event attendees were encouraged to use a QR code to send a letter to their Congress person asking them to support the Equality Act.
Black History Month Celebration
Student-Athletes for Social Justice celebrated Black History Month 2023 by spotlighting student-athletes on social media answering questions from The Antiracist Deck: 100 Meaningful Conversations on Power, Equity, and Justice.
Kaepernick Challenge
As a means to initiate conversation and social justice education across the athletic department, SA4SJ started the #KaepernickChallenge, a two-pronged conversational and social media challenge. Teams were encouraged to watch all six episodes and have conversations within their team that challenge one another to have the difficult conversations needed to establish allyship towards social justice issues. During this challenge, each team took over SA4SJ’s social media at different times highlighting their participation in the challenge. Each team then challenged another team to share their experience on the SA4SJ social media account as well as their own social media account.
The goal was to not only promote solidarity within the athletic department, but to have a final viewing party for the entire athletic department and small group discussions so that all student-athlete can engage, converse, and listen to one another.
Town Hall
Student-Athletes for Social Justice invited the athletics department to join a town hall discussion on race, bias reporting and information about Loyola University Maryland processes and procedures during bias incidents. This was a student-athlete led, interactive discussion based event. We encouraged all student-athletes and athletics staff to join us in this important conversation aimed at making Loyola University Maryland a safe and inviting place for the whole community. We also encouraged everyone to invite a Loyola faculty member, administrator or staff to register and attend this event as well, so we could engage in these conversations with the entire campus community.