Georgetown’s Black Student Athletes Coalition Has Our Attention

The recently founded Black Student-Athlete Coalition of Georgetown is already hard at work with advocacy and support for Black student-athletes and GU students, staff, alumni, and fans would do well to take heed of their messages and experiences.

With the first “I Can’t Breathe” video released last week and a “2.0” video released today, the BSAC is building momentum on important topics on the Hilltop and nationally.

BSAC Co-Director of Communications and soccer player Alexis Smith (MSB ’22) told The Hoya that the video aims to shed light on the failures of Georgetown University Athletics to provide a welcoming and supportive atmosphere for Black student-athletes, saying, “I believe that the BSAC video has been a wake up call not only for the overall Georgetown community but specifically the athletic department on pitfalls that have negatively affected Black student-athletes for years.”

Rio Hope-Gund (COL ’21), BSAC board member, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee representative in the Athletics Department and men’s soccer senior defender, explained to The Georgetown Voice that “Georgetown never had this before. They’ve never had a Black student-athlete group, affinity group. There is a sense of community within the Georgetown Athletics Department for Black student-athletes but there was never something official,” and that “It’s perfect timing. It’s long overdue but it’s definitely better that we have it now.”

It is long overdue. The videos are heart-wrenching and powerful. They are well worth multiple viewings because of the density of experiences the student-athletes are sharing.

I think we all look forward to watching, listening, and supporting BSAC in the near future.

HOYA SAXA