DeKALB, Ill. – On Saturday, October 10, a crowd several hundred strong, clad in red, gathered at the Northern Illinois University Convocation Center for the first NIU Student-Athlete Unity March and Rally.
 
Student-athletes from nearly every NIU sports program, including many entire teams, were joined by coaches, staff members, students and community members for the short walk from the Convocation Center to the East Side of Huskie Stadium.
 
The March was put together by NIU's Student-Athlete Diversity and Inclusion Committee, a group of student-athletes representing many of NIU's sports programs. Their goal was to create an event where student-athletes could come together, along with members of the community, to show their commitment to NIU and to continuing to help make the campus a place where diversity and inclusivity are accepted and celebrated.   
 
At the conclusion of the walk, the attendees gathered on the East Grass outside Huskie Stadium, where student-athlete speakers from the Diversity and Inclusion Committee spoke on a series of topics relevant to the over-riding theme of unity.
 
The topics were chosen by the student-athletes and included Grace Louis (women's soccer) on unity, Paulina Castro (women's basketball) on the importance of voting, Mia Lord (gymnastics) and Sam Mallinder (softball) on women's issues and respect for the LGBTQ+ community, and Haley Hoppe (women's soccer) and Kam Smith (baseball) on humanity and respecting the differences in others.
 
In addition, Morgan Hooper (gymnastics) spoke on diversity, Jordan Larson (baseball) on Black lives matter and Janae Poisson (women's basketball) on racism in the justice system.
 
The March and Rally represented the student-athletes' sincere wish to do something to encourage others to speak out, and to provide a call to action to their fellow student-athletes to help them build a safe and comfortable environment for each other and for all, regardless of their differences.   
 
"I'm proud of our student-athletes," said NIU Senior Associate Athletic Director Courtney Vinson, who leads the department's Diversity and Inclusion Group (DIG). "They worked for three weeks to put the event together because they are citizens of this country, this community and this campus, and they're affected by these social justice issues we have going on right now. As a department, we encourage our students' freedom of speech and I thought the Unity March and Rally was a great display of how our student-athletes can use their voices in a positive way."      
 
To see more on NIU Athletics' Diversity and Inclusion efforts, visit the web page on NIUHuskies.com.
 
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