Student-Athletes Facilitating Equity aims to promote conversations about DEI

Michael Spragley remembers the day a UNC Chapel Hill alum — a white man in his 80s — came to cross country practice and made an insensitive assumption. It’s not a fond memory.

Spragley, like his teammates, wore white t-shirts with a UNC logo and “CROSS COUNTRY” under it. Yet the alum asked Spragley, the only Black athlete there, if he was a jumper.

Later, Spragley told his suitemates, but they didn’t understand how offensive the question, stereotyping Black track athletes, was. It took Spragley two months before he mentioned the incident again — this time to the Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) Student-Athlete Collective for UNC athletes.

The BIPOC collective rebranded to become Student-Athletes Facilitating Equity (SAFE) in 2022. SAFE isn’t just for athletes of color but for all athletes. The organization offers small group sessions for athletes to discuss topics varying from the experience of athletes of color at a predominantly white institution to mental health struggles. SAFE also leads community-building events, educational panels and social media campaigns aimed to inform followers on current issues facing people of color. 

Graduate football rush Kaimon Rucker and senior fencer Iman Tucker are this year's leaders of the group. 

Spragley, a co-founder and former co-president of SAFE, still didn’t mention the microaggression until he was walking one day with Lauryn Hall, a former sprinter. 

“He was more timid in terms of expressing how he felt about it, until I affirmed him and how he felt," Hall said. 

After Hall's validation, Spragley brought it up in a BIPOC collective meeting a few days later. Other members then recounted similar stories of microaggressions.

“If you're isolated, you feel like you shouldn't say anything,” Spragley, now a UNC alum, said. “Don’t wanna make a whole big thing, you feel like you got nobody on your side. But being at BIPOC kind of gave me the confidence to [talk]."

Sydney Banks, another SAFE co-founder and former high jumper, said the group aimed to create a confidential and judgment-free zone. SAFE wasn’t just for venting about microaggressions either. Banks said whenever she got overwhelmed balancing track with school and other clubs, she knew she could find someone at SAFE who could empathize and offer to go to lunch with her to get her mind off her stress.

“It just helps so much having that community," Banks said. “Because then you have so many other people that are like, 'I'm experiencing the exact same thing.'"

Some issues that come up in SAFE meetings become topics for educational panels and TED Talks. On the third floor of Loudermilk Center for Excellence, athletes of color host talks on topics such as the experience growing up as a Black athlete.

At first, Spragley's cross country teammates struggled to talk about race. But as he started conversations with his team, especially while running trails in practice, Spragley's teammates came to a new understanding about what he was saying and were open to his perspective. 

SAFE members would even invite teammates they had heard make racially insensitive jokes to meetings. Banks said members reported teammates learning from those mistakes and holding more conversations about race.

Last year, SAFE hosted events for karaoke, watch parties of “King Richard” at Varsity Theatre and trivia. Spragley remembers a Black History Month Jeopardy where many of his majority-white cross country teammates came out — and won.

“That was just cool to see just everybody bonding over our culture,” Spragley said.

Though she has graduated, Banks said she still offers advice to SAFE. She said the organization continues to offer more small group meetings to make it easier to talk candidly. It also wants to combat misinformation about Diversity, Equity and Inclusion policies and collaborate more with Pack United, N.C. State University’s club for athletes who work for equity.

With the elimination of DEI offices at UNC, SAFE works to facilitate tough conversations in an environment of "institutional neutrality." Spragley said problems arise from not talking about issues related to DEI.

“We should be talking about race,” Spragley said. “We should be talking about cultural differences and equity, because that's how people come together.”

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