University of Oklahoma Athletics

Sooners for Humanity

Civic Responsibility | Social Intelligence | Education | Accountability | Advocacy

Sooners for Humanity

Sooners for Humanity is a framework to address issues that negate and suppress the human experience and speaks to our ongoing commitment to be Masterful, Accountable, Gracious, Inclusive, and Competitive in everything we do. This framework is built on the five pillars of Civic Responsibility, Social Intelligence, Education, Accountability, and Advocacy and will support our continued tradition of excellence by innovatively addressing issues of humanity with our student-athletes, coaches, staff, and community.

With these important pillars as guidance, we will further cultivate a culture where the entire Sooner Nation feels valued, supported, and inspired to pursue championships in sport and in life.

Pillar 1

Civic Responsibility

Pillar 2

Social Intelligence

Pillar 3

Education

Pillar 4

Accountability

Pillar 5

Advocacy

Civic Responsibility

Purpose

To address society's problems in an informed, committed, and constructive manner while engaging in an active process that goes beyond passive citizenship.

Goal

To provide impactful programming and engagement opportunities that embraces the concept of participatory democracy while reaching varying degrees of political awareness and advocacy.

Strategy

  1. Have annual mandatory Know your Rights workshop with all incoming student-athletes.
  2. Mandatory voting education program for all student-athletes, coaches & staff prior to any voting cycle.
  3. Time off – Election Day
    1. Mandatory day off for student-athletes on any election day, excluding primaries
    2. Mandatory half-day off for staff and coaches on any election day, excluding primaries

Execution

  1. Partner with Oklahoma ACLU to present on Students’ Rights, Encountering Law Enforcement, and Being Stopped by the Police as part of Student-Athlete Orientation.
  2. Collaborate with campus partners on voter registration efforts and work in partnership with campus partners and Oklahoma ACLU to present on voter’s rights, candidate platforms, and legislation on the ballot prior to election cycle in a non-partisan manner.
  3. Unite ADSC and SAIL to create an event on Election Day that brings awareness of voting and acknowledge those who voted in a fun and interactive manner to supplement the "Day Off."

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Social Intelligence

Purpose

To improve the level of leadership and social intelligence skills for Black OU Student-Athletes that will enhance their overall experience and directly impact their interpersonal competency efforts.

Goal

To provide Black OU student-athletes professional opportunities to purposely improve and apply leadership skills and intentionally establish an influential network.

Strategy

  1. Provide ongoing opportunities for professional enhancement, leadership development, and network building for Black OU student-athletes.
  2. Establish a bi-annual professional networking event and a comprehensive professional mentoring program that includes former student-athletes, contracted business partners and community leaders.
  3. Collaborate with OU Office of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, Black Faculty & Staff and OU Black Student Association to establish programming and events that will integrate Black OU student-athletes into the campus community while building community amongst the Black OU students, Black OU student-athletes, and Black OU faculty and staff.

Execution

  1. Send 2 Black OU Student-Athletes (1 male & 1 female) and 1 OU staff member annually to the following Conferences:
    1. Black Student-Athlete Summit
    2. Big 12 Conference on Black Student Government
    3. Southwestern Black Student Leadership Conference
  2. Partner with Varsity O and campus and local partners to execute a professional networking event during Homecoming week and Spring Football Game week and create a comprehensive professional mentoring program.
  3. Have a welcoming event for incoming Black OU student-athletes, community dinner during fall, holiday event during winter, MLK, Jr. Day of Service, Black History Month event, Juneteenth Celebration, and two Unity Weeks (Spring and Fall).

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Education

Purpose

To improve the knowledge base of staff, coaches, and community members about cultural groups and systemic racism and to demonstrate OU’s commitment to social justice reform and support diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Goal

To provide programs that equip staff and coaches with the knowledge to eradicate systemic racism in their personal and professional lives, and to create partnerships and designs that raise awareness within our fan base.

Strategy

  1. Allyship Program to create a space for consciousness-raising for coaches and staff.
  2. Black jerseys for all teams to show a visible celebration of Black culture and history.
  3. Alternate iterations of the OU logo to celebrate diversity.

Execution

  1. Create a comprehensive educational program that targets specific identities within the Department to equip staff with the knowledge and tools to eradicate systemic racism within their professional and personal lives. Components include:
    1. Antiracism Book Club (ABC) to create a space where Athletics staff and coaches can regularly meet together to review antiracism materials with facilitators.
    2. Educational Programs to build on the current educational sessions sponsored by the Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Subcommittee as a means for regular unlearning, self-reflection, and development of action steps for the department.
    3. Kairos Group to educate white men of their stimulus value, understand levels of privilege, and be able gain multicultural knowledge, awareness, and skills.
  2. Schedule Unity Games for all sports featuring black jerseys to be worn during a designated game, match, or meet for each sport.
    1. Each contest will have accompanying media packages including interviews with student-athletes and coaches.
    2. Educational videos and resources will be shared on external channels.
    3. Partnerships with community and campus organizations will be emphasized.
  3. Design alternate OU logos for special cultural months.
    1. Graphic Design will create logos in consultation with the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Subcommittee and appropriate community members.
    2. Merchandise can be created with these logos for sale and are encouraged to be worn to corresponding games.

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Accountability

Purpose

To improve our commitment to our core value of Accountability and be relentless in the pursuit to have our words match our actions.

Goal

To create specific actions to implement programming for our department to become one of the most diverse, equitable, and inclusive departments in the country and continue our tradition of excellence.

Strategy

  1. Hire a senior level administrator for diversity, equity & inclusion.
    1. Duties which would fall under this position are currently absorbed by multiple staff members in the department. Centralizing these responsibilities under this position will allow for us to prioritize and devote full-time attention to this mission critical work.
  2. Mandatory individual DE&I education and training for all student-athletes, coaches, and staff.
  3. Each sport program to institute DE&I training into their normal meeting schedules.
    1. Minimum of 10 hours a year programming, specifically for equality training.
    2. If the minimum number of hours are not met, the team’s next academic year recruiting budget will be 10% less of the current year’s budget. That 10% will be allocated to department wide DE&I efforts.

Execution

  1. Internal approval and central HR approval to create new position followed by a national search.
    1. As President Harroz continues to prioritize DE&I efforts, we expect central HR and campus DE&I office will fully support the creation of this position.
  2. Addition of a section for tracking DE&I education in yearly personnel evaluations for all staff.
  3. Addition of tracking of required equality training hours for coaches in yearly personnel evaluations.

Advocacy

Purpose

To provide the necessary resources and advocate for a clear platform for minorities in continuing education and entrepreneurship.

Goal

To equip underrepresented groups with the tools to be catalyst of change.

Strategy

  1. Partnerships with Black-owned businesses.
  2. Increase the percentage of black owned businesses on state contract with OU athletics.
  3. Full scholarship to a student-athlete to receive law degree at OU or a top 15 rated law school in the country (preference would be to study criminal justice reform).

Execution

  1. Create an accelerator program for Black-owned businesses at one of Headington Hall’s retail spaces and have an official sponsor of OU Athletics that is a Black owned business.
  2. Work with ABO and campus purchasing to increase our percentage of Black owned businesses on contract with us.
  3. Provide a student-athlete with the opportunity to further their education and increase their chance to earn higher wages. Funding would be provided through private gifts to establish endowment at OU Foundation.