VILLANOVA, Pa. – Villanova Athletics staff and student-athletes came together on Wednesday night for a Critical Conversation that included a panel discussion and group dialogue moderated by RISE to shine a light on building a community committed to equity and inclusivity.
RISE is a national nonprofit that educates and empowers the sports community to eliminate racial discrimination, champion social justice and improve race relations. The BIG EAST and RISE
created a partnership in 2020 to provide a range of programming to conference stakeholders, including leadership workshops, civic engagement education, town halls and fan activations at the conference level and with all eleven BIG EAST member institutions.
"I think tonight was an excellent showing," Assistant Athletic Director for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and Director of UNITAS Leashia Lewis said. "RISE has been doing this work in many sectors for many years and I think they can elevate the work we are already doing with our UNITAS platform. They are another voice that adds layers to our foundational work."
The panel comprised of Villanova staff and student-athletes included Senior Associate AD/Chief Athletics Operating Officer Ashwin Puri, former Villanova swimmer and current UNITAS Intern Milly Routledge, women's basketball assistant coach Michelle Sword and men's soccer senior Gray Ricca. Scarlen Martinez, the Senior Director of Empowerment for RISE was on hand to moderate the evening's discussion that focused on graduating complete student-athletes who celebrate and embrace diversity. A crowd of nearly 85 people representing numerous Villanova teams and departments were in attendance for the conversation.
"Tonight was a great example of where we want to go as a community and a testament of how UNITAS has grown," Vice President and Director of Athletics Mark Jackson said. "Having a turnout like we had tonight from student-athletes, coaches, staff, administrators, it just reemphasizes that this is a stepping stone towards having everyone in our community involved because everyone has a role to play."
Much of the conversations touched on how the University's commitment to truth, unity and love are felt by those who come to Villanova and the steps that can be taken to amplify diversity, equity and inclusion work through those ideals. Sword brought up how important it is to cultivate a community that allows people to be human and show up as their true selves. She and the other panelists reminded the audience that it is everyone's responsibility to make an impact and to help lead those around them to champion diversity and inclusion of various races, religions, genders and opinions. All of this, as Routledge pointed out, is done when each person "challenges their comfort" and takes part in uncomfortable conversations.
From a student-athlete perspective, Ricca mentioned that graduating complete student-athletes goes beyond the classroom. "You have to work to apply what you learn and be confident in yourself enough to help make a change," Ricca said. Puri echoed this, imploring the audience to "seek others who are different from you" in order to help spur those conversations and yearn for change.
"I feel like we had buy-in from the community tonight," Lewis said. "I'm always sharing and talking about how people need to show up, be present and be in proximity with these conversations and with people outside of themselves and that is how the community showed up today. I do believe that the common thread across the conversation was community, dialogue, and it seemed like everyone was really engaged in that."
