Where Georgia athletics' push for inclusivity stands now with DEI programs facing backlash

There are still visible signs on game days in the form of black shirts with the message “Commit to Change, Unity, Equity, Action.” They were worn this past season by football players Oscar Delp, Smael Mondon and Ladd McConkey and last week by basketball player Russel Tchewa.

More than three and a half years ago in the summer of 2020, Georgia and many other athletic departments looked inward and pledged to address issues surrounding diversity, equity and inclusion after a national reckoning about racial inequality following the murder of a Black man, George Floyd, by a Minneapolis police officer that prompted social unrest in the country.

The football program—Georgia’s most prominent and successful in recent years—led the charge with its “Dawgs for Pups” program which raised $100,000 for Wi-Fi hotspots for Clarke County students, $103,000 to the Downtown Academy school from spring game proceeds and collected 30,000 pounds of snacks for the Food Bank of Northeast Georgia. That came after conversations about being change agents in the community.

Former Georgia and current NFL quarterback Matthew Stafford and wife Kelly, in August of 2020, donated $350,000 while football coach Kirby Smart and wife Mary Beth added $150,000 to support the launch of a program to implement DEI and social justice initiatives.

It wasn’t just football.

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There were video messages from other coaches and the athletic department hired a consultant to look at how Georgia athletics was handling diversity issues.

“We will not be silent and we are committed to healing together,” Smart said in the video message sent to UGA athletes. “For you, we remain committed to creating an environment where everyone feels valued, seen and heard.”

Recently, Harvard's president was forced out after campus protests in support of Palestinians and state legislatures have taken aim at DEI programs on college campuses. So, what’s the state of all of this now in a time where DEI has become a political hot button issue?

Georgia has quietly, for the most part, kept alive its DEI initiatives, including programming intended to ensure that a diverse population is served.

“Our work continues to be undergirded by our community service work…and community engagement,” Darrice Griffin, Georgia’s senior deputy director of athletics, said. “Specifically, giving back to the youth in the Athens community. And protecting spaces for dialogue and education and personal development and growth that we believe truly impacts performance competitively and academically.”

Every Georgia sports team is expected to perform community service.

The football team had a day of service where players read to elementary school kids, spent time at a local food bank and visited a senior citizens home. Women’s basketball held its annual bike building event for kids. Baseball players held an event with Special Olympics.

Georgia held a fellowship event for international athletes. The football team will again, at the end of Black History Month, take an early morning tour of historically significant sites on campus related to integration.

“I think it’s huge because it allows the players to know that they have people around them that care,” said Sedrick Van Pran-Granger, a three-year starting center expected to be an early round NFL draft choice. “It’s not just people that are using you as a product to get money for the university and all those things. I think it’s really important that you show an ability to care, to empathize, to feel some of the things that we have went through just for the simple fact that if not, I think at times, it can sort of feel like you’re basically an indentured servant. It’s extremely important (to show) the compassionate connections.”

Answering the call after getting feedback from athletes, staff

Griffin said by early 2020, athletes and staff were asking about a need for DEI programming, months before many companies and organizations stepped up their efforts.

“We all have a responsibility every day we show up to our organization to make sure that everybody feels like they belong and it’s a safe space for them, that they’re respected in our space,” Griffin said. “When we were grappling with what we were grappling with as a country and our student-athletes and our staff said we want to be a leader in this space, I worked closely with some industry peers and partners to help craft a job description we thought was thoughtful and would be effective.”

That role is filled by Courtney Gay, who had served as an academic counselor until December of 2020.

She met with teams to have conversations about racial justice issues at the time when it was a national conversation, but she said those discussions began earlier in the year.

“We talked about everybody is part of diversity,” Gay said. “Whether we’re talking about race, gender, socioeconomic status, where you come from, religion. Every part of your experience contributes to your diversity.”

Georgia athletics launched an internal DEI program and established student-athlete and staff DEI councils.

“We titled the work DEI, but it really comes down to people from all walks of life, all backgrounds, all across the world feeling like they belong in your organization,” Griffin said. “And your organization being real intentional about creating safe spaces for dialogue.”

A university task force launched 16 DEI programs or initiatives with $1 million in private resources from the UGA Athletic Association “to foster a more welcoming and supportive learning environment for Black and other underrepresented members of our community.”

Georgia used the services of PRO2CEO, run by Kevin Carr, an adjunct professor of diversity at UCF who worked with the NBA, the ACC, NCAA and Nike, to implement a 12-month program for athletics.

“He really challenged us to be thoughtful when we were laying the building blocks,” Griffin said.

That June, Georgia athletics pledged to “impact real action moving forward,” and produced a diversity and inclusion plan that included educating coaches, staff and athletes and creating a sustainable action plan to promote inclusion and create a plan to identify diverse candidates in hiring.

A total of 672 athletes, staff and coaches took part in a survey, according to information shared at a UGA athletic board meeting in September of 2020.

That included a range of feedback. One responder said they experienced more racism over 3 years at UGA than their previous 18 years. Another said that the only ideas that seem “OK to discuss in public are liberal ones and that is both dangerous and wrong….Diversity of thought is just as, if not more important, than the diversity of background, race, religion, etc.”

Josh Brooks, Georgia athletic director since January of 2021, said he’s focused on being inclusive.

“It’s one thing just to be diverse, but are you truly inclusive?” he said. “Is it a welcoming environment? Is it an environment where people of all backgrounds can grow?”

A year ago, Georgia football pushed out a three-and-a-half minute video of the team, including then assistant coaches Bryan McClendon and Dell McGee, both Black, taking the tour of sites related to Black history on campus.

McClendon told the players: “Black history is not just Black history, it’s everybody’s history.”

“In my conversations with them, it was well-received,” Griffin said. “It was something that they believe is powerful and something they want us to do more of. I do think it was impactful. I do want to give Coach Smart some credit. That was his idea.”

“That was one of my professional highlights at the University of Georgia,” Griffin said, “getting to do that early morning with those young men and really getting to educate myself about key figures in our community.”

Ex-Bulldog player Lt. Gov. Burt Jones scrutinized DEI spending

Burt Jones, a former Georgia football captain and now the state’s Lt. Governor who is friendly with Smart, asked for information from the University System of Georgia’s Board of Regents last spring seeking how money for DEI programs was being used at 26 state institutions.

Gay’s $85,000 salary (of which Georgia said 75 percent is for DEI initiatives) and a description of her work were included on page 156-157 of the 194-page report as was her title Assistant Athletic Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.

That has changed during this school year to Assistant Athletic Director - Inclusive Excellence & Strategic Engagement.

“It reflects an evolution in approach,” Griffin said.

It also comes as more and more states take aim at DEI programs.

Since 2021, 21 states have introduced proposals to dismantle DEI programs on college campuses and nine have approved such laws, according to Axios.

UGA said in the USG report that 40 positions worked on diversity issues, which was .18 percent of its workforce covering .12 percent of its total budget and that state appropriated funds accounted for .03 percent of UGA’s total budget.

UGA said supporting all members of its student body is a reason it was No. 16 for public universities in the U.S. News & World Report ranking and “data demonstrate that our commitment to supporting diversity, broadly defined, does not detract from, but rather enhances, student success while at UGA and after graduation. It states that supporting diversity is also an accreditation requirement for many schools and the NCAA and SEC expects schools to administer DEI training and education and that administrators and coaches believe that support for diversity and inclusion is “critical,” for recruiting and retaining athletes.

Chancellor Sony Perdue said in the report that the Board of Regents’ statement of principles from last spring affirmed academic freedom and freedom of expression for all students, faculty and staff.

The USG statement of principles includes that it “values the diversity of intellectual thought and expression, which shall be reflected in a student body and faculty that respect the individuality and beliefs of all.”

The Athens Banner-Herald reached out to Jones for this story, but was unable to get comment.

He told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution after the report was released: “I am committed to ensuring taxpayer dollars are spent wisely to support a higher education system that equips our students with critical skills needed for future success — not on advancing divisive concepts and political agendas. I know Chancellor Perdue shares in that commitment, and I commend him and our entire University System for their thorough review of existing policies.”

'Crucial conversations' for Georgia athletes

Georgia baseball outfielder Josh Stinson is co-chair of the 36-member student-athlete DEI committee, which aims to foster an inclusive athletic environment for all.

Others on the committee include football players Jalon Walker, Warren Brinson and Jamaal Jarrett, softball star Jada Kearney and basketball’s Tchewa.

“We just have really crucial conversations,” he said.

Gay said that after an Anti-Semitic message was displayed in Jacksonville during the Georgia-Florida game weekend, students from UGA Hillel spoke to the DEI student committee and they talked about being an “ally.”

Gymnastics has held “Celebrate Diversity,” meets in recent seasons. Gay spoke to the basketball team before Juneteenth after she was invited by coach Mike White.

“We want this to be a movement and not a moment,” Gay said last summer of an often-used phrase. “We’ve tried to embody that and continue to have conversations.”

UGA undergraduate students are 6 percent Black, 12 percent Asian, 6 percent Hispanic and 68 percent White, according to data from fall of 2022 from the National Center for Education Statistics.

UGA’s 537 athletes, according to the latest figures, are 57.4 White, 22.9 percent Black or African, 7.1 percent non-resident aliens, 6.0 percent two or more races, 2.6 percent Hispanic and 1.3 percent Asian.

Of 126 football players including walk-ons, 52.3 percent are Black or African, 38.9 White, 5.6 two or more races. 1.6 percent Hispanic and 1.6 non-resident Aliens.

Stinson, a redshirt senior from Lawrenceville plays a sport where there aren’t many Black players. He’s one of four on this year’s team, according to UGA data.

The number was 4 percent in 2021 at non HBCU schools, according to NCAA data cited by the Associated Press.  

Stinson said he used to have “beautiful long dreads,” but was made to feel that he needed to cut them.

“I’m different,” he said. “I look different than everybody else so I would try to fit in rather than standing out and being OK with standing out. Now I’m comfortable with not fitting in and not looking like everybody, not playing the same play style. Having a unique game focusing on defense, not trying to hit home runs.”

Stinson is part of the committee with catcher Fernando Gonzalez, a native of Panama.

“It really just builds our bond closer,” Stinson said. “DEI kind of created that safe space where he could open up and he could talk about his life where he came from. Everybody didn’t come from easy paths. It kind of creates a little community, a safe haven. You can just be yourself and people are willing to listen to you.”