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The United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee announced that Bernard Muir, Stanford University director of athletics, will serve as the new chair of the USOPC Collegiate Advisory Council. Muir replaces Kevin White (Duke University), long-time chair and retired USOPC board member, who held the appointment from 2017-2022.
Although there have been countless leadership changes due to sexual abuse scandals and coverups along with a one-year Olympic delay resulting from the global pandemic, the governing body of Team USA has never included Historically Black Colleges nor Universities for representation within its Collegiate Advisory Council since the partnership’s inception in 2016. Even after businesses all throughout the country that Team USA represents posed a racial reckoning with corporate America vowing a shift toward Diversity, Equity and Inclusion after the George Floyd incident, there has been little to no progress from the nation preparing to host a Games in about five years. For more than a decade, I have personally advocated to bridge the gap between these two entities as athletes labeled as Black have always dominated their respective disciplines when given an opportunity and the necessary resources. As my agency continues to present ideas for positive changes to anyone within the organization that will listen, I will for now hold my commentary as transitions are still taking place and I believe these are quick and easy solutions if my suggestions are taken seriously upon review.
HBCU gymnastics made a debut with Fisk University in 2022As changes continue to happen, educational institutions that best serve minorities seem to not even be up for consideration. For example, the USOPC also announced one new member, Jamie Pollard (Iowa State University), and a new structure that includes four designated athlete seats. Now in its sixth year of operation, the CAC brings high-contributing collegiate administrators and athletes with both collegiate sport and Team USA experience together to help bridge and develop the relationship between the key stakeholders.
The 12-member council is comprised of some of the nation’s most popular instituions yet noticeably excludes universities in which Black students make up a majority of the student body population outside of its sports and athletic programs such as:
- Bernard Muir (Stanford University/USOPC CAC chair)
- Sandy Barbour (Pennsylvania State University)
- Greg Byrne (University of Alabama)
- ^Lauren Crandall (Athlete/Wake Forest University)
- Bubba Cunningham (University of North Carolina/USOPC board representative)
- ^Jessica Heims (Athlete/University of Northern Iowa)
- ^Chaunté Lowe (Athlete/Georgia Institute of Technology)
- Rob Mullens (University of Oregon)
- *Jamie Pollard (Iowa State University)
- Gene Smith (The Ohio State University)
- ^Kendall Spencer (Athlete/University of New Mexico)
- Scott Stricklin (University of Florida)
^Denotes athlete representativeWith the Olympic and Paralympic Games Paris 2024 on the horizon, the CAC will continue carrying out its mission of strengthening and leading collaborative efforts to align our country’s unique collegiate athletic landscape and the Olympic and Paralympic movements to support Team USA’s collegiate athletes.
The council’s focus areas are alignment modeling, messaging integration and pathway advancement. The CAC will convene its first meeting of 2023 via teleconference March 1.
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