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Dear Arcadia Community,
I want to thank community members who have expressed concern and their desire for the Department of Athletics and Recreation to live up to the values of Arcadia University. The Department reaffirms our commitment to take action against systemic anti-Black racism and to improve the lives of our Black students on campus, as articulated in our statement on June 5. We echo President Nair’s call for long-overdue radical change at Arcadia, and that the time is now.
I, as Director of this department, and with the support of coaches and staff from Baseball, Lacrosse, Basketball, Soccer, Softball, Swimming, Tennis, Track and Field, Cross Country, Field Hockey, Ice Hockey, Volleyball, Golf, and Esports, immediately commit to the following as an Athletics Department:
Specifically, I'd like to acknowledge a serious incident that occurred in 2016, especially since it continues to cause pain in our community. The baseball team that spring had several members found to be in violation of Arcadia’s anti-hazing policy, civility expectations, and code of conduct for student-athletes. Following the completion of the investigation, the disciplinary and corrective actions included a conduct hearing for each team member, resulting in individual punishments that ranged from banning from campus for one year to warnings with various educational sanctions; a coaching replacement; cancellation of games; player suspensions; a ban on the postseason play; a team-wide educational intervention on civility, specifically regarding race and gender relations; and additional anti-hazing education for the team. This sort of incident is part of a larger systemic issue that Athletics must confront and continue to work against.
We owe it to our teams, athletic groups, and the entire University community to advance sexual violence prevention and address the racism that plagues the system. In response to those students who have expressed frustrations with reporting and ethical behavior outside of a specific office, here is the link to the phone number and website to file a Whistleblower report. Reporting actions help us be better informed to effect change.
We are committed to accountability and will hold all members of the department up to our codes of conduct, policies, and expectations. We continue to strive for meaningful ways to engage student-athletes in personal conduct and leadership development, and to be contributing members of the Arcadia community.
Sincerely,
Brian Granata
Executive Director, Athletics and Recreation