Baseball Team Statement
The Davidson College baseball team sincerely apologizes to members of our community for the recent actions of team members that failed to live up to our community’s commitment of support for each other and to Davidson’s values of honoring the dignity and worth of every human being.
One of our team members provided a Zoom link so that a friend at another school could enter a remotely conducted Davidson class, and the uninvited student made a politically charged remark that could be construed as racially motivated. That team member’s actions were, at a minimum, disrespectful of, and inconsiderate toward, his classmates and professor. The team member’s actions will be investigated by the Honor Council in the fall semester.
Several team members have apologized to a fellow student who was the subject of a racial insult in December. We apologized for the incident and have appreciated constructive conversations with the student who was insulted, including their helpfully providing readings to better understand the experiences of members of underrepresented groups. One of our team members, however, recently engaged in unproductive conversation with this same student on social media, and we see that those comments caused harm and wholeheartedly apologize for the additional anguish that these interactions caused. The team member involved will not participate in team activities for an indefinite period. Additionally, Coach Taylor is imposing a strict policy, including severe consequences, on comments or actions, on social media or in person, that fall short of the community’s and program’s expectations.
We embrace and share Davidson’s commitment to recruiting students of all backgrounds, as the diversity of our community makes true learning possible – gaining knowledge through different perspectives and experiences. Part of that learning is understanding when our words or actions can be harmful to other members of our community. Frankly put – our culture needs to change and we as individuals need to change. We own that and everything that comes with it.
We have already started the work from an educational perspective, but we understand it is not enough. We are committed to treating other members of our community with the compassion and dignity that we owe each other. As action steps for education and training on implicit bias and anti-racism and to ensure that team members are fulfilling their part of our community’s shared obligations to each other of unqualified support and respect, the following steps have been taken and will continue moving forward:
Davidson Baseball Team
One of our team members provided a Zoom link so that a friend at another school could enter a remotely conducted Davidson class, and the uninvited student made a politically charged remark that could be construed as racially motivated. That team member’s actions were, at a minimum, disrespectful of, and inconsiderate toward, his classmates and professor. The team member’s actions will be investigated by the Honor Council in the fall semester.
Several team members have apologized to a fellow student who was the subject of a racial insult in December. We apologized for the incident and have appreciated constructive conversations with the student who was insulted, including their helpfully providing readings to better understand the experiences of members of underrepresented groups. One of our team members, however, recently engaged in unproductive conversation with this same student on social media, and we see that those comments caused harm and wholeheartedly apologize for the additional anguish that these interactions caused. The team member involved will not participate in team activities for an indefinite period. Additionally, Coach Taylor is imposing a strict policy, including severe consequences, on comments or actions, on social media or in person, that fall short of the community’s and program’s expectations.
We embrace and share Davidson’s commitment to recruiting students of all backgrounds, as the diversity of our community makes true learning possible – gaining knowledge through different perspectives and experiences. Part of that learning is understanding when our words or actions can be harmful to other members of our community. Frankly put – our culture needs to change and we as individuals need to change. We own that and everything that comes with it.
We have already started the work from an educational perspective, but we understand it is not enough. We are committed to treating other members of our community with the compassion and dignity that we owe each other. As action steps for education and training on implicit bias and anti-racism and to ensure that team members are fulfilling their part of our community’s shared obligations to each other of unqualified support and respect, the following steps have been taken and will continue moving forward:
- Individual and group conversations about racism and social injustice
- A leadership team created to take point on improving individual and group understanding
- Scholar-athletes' conversations with athletic administrators to better understand the impact of actions and accountability
- Team meetings planned with minority leaders in professional baseball to better understand discrimination and obstacles facing others in baseball globally
- Team reading and discussion, including, among others:
- The Fire Next Time, James Baldwin
- The Wretched of the Earth, Frantz Fanon
- Stereotyping Asian Americans: The Dialectic of the Model Minority and the Yellow Peril, Yuko Kawai
- Conversations with the Dream on 3 organization about future involvement with them, planned for the coming school year
- Bail funds
- Colorado Freedom Fund
- Greater Charlotte RISE
- Fair Fight
- Collegiate Athlete GoFundMe for BLM
- Bukit Bail Fund of Pittsburgh
Davidson Baseball Team
