When it comes to running a school, administrators must ensure that student athletes’ rights and safety are protected. Cases of sexual misconduct, violence, bullying, and discrimination have created fertile ground for educational institutions to create safe spaces aimed at reducing these incidents and forming a more inclusive learning and professional environment for everyone on campus.
Without safe spaces, a school’s integrity is put into question. Its reputation suffers when it chooses to turn a blind eye to abuse and discriminatory practices. Greater still is the psychological effect that these actions and a lack of enforcement have on student-athletes. If you’re part of your school’s administration, advocating for safe spaces is the only way to move forward. Here are a few things to keep in mind:
1. Know what safe spaces entail
Before anything else, you need to have a thorough understanding of what safe spaces involve. Safe spaces are a concept that consists of concrete solutions to problems that often or may occur on campus. Bullying with racist undertones is one issue that safe spaces seek to address, along with cases of sexual violence committed by fellow athletes and staff.
You need to come up with a clear-cut plan on how you’re going to implement the concept in your institution. Develop a set of objectives and create a short-term and long-term game plan to help you reach them. Laying the foundation at the start will help you make the most of the time and resources you have.
2. Determine the needs of your institution
As you draft out your game plan for implementing safe spaces on campus, consider listening to the different sectors of the student body, the school’s varsity team, as well as the school’s workforce. You can organize town hall meetings where faculty and staff members can lay down the challenges they’re facing, especially if they belong to vulnerable groups.
Work closely with your guidance counselor to understand the most recurring mental health and social problems that student-athletes face and the most pressing barriers that will hamper efforts to create safe spaces for them. By encouraging inputs across diverse perspectives, you will be able to refine your proposal for safe spaces that will benefit everyone on campus.
3. Ensure enforcement and implementation
A plan may look good on paper but its effectiveness is yet to be seen until it’s enforced. With this in mind, consider the specific phases you will need to undergo to carry out your strategy. You can start by organizing on-campus seminars and conferences on equality and fairness in granting scholarship opportunities. It also matters to form committees that oversee compliance with school and statewide laws that address racism and gender bias among student-athletes.
It also matters to have mechanisms in place that will overhear cases of discrimination and violence with utmost discretion. When it comes to investigating cases of sexual misconduct, train faculty members in handling Title 9 hearings through the guidance of an experienced legal professional.
4. Gather feedback and evaluate
As your game plan is put into motion, it’s crucial to check its progress and find out what else needs improvement. Safe spaces require continuous refinement as new challenges emerge. For this reason, aim to evaluate the gains and weaknesses of your strategy by asking for feedback from student-athletes and faculty members.
Use survey forms or interview random individuals who can help determine what the institution falls short of. It’s also important to collaborate with the student council, on-campus sports organizations, and the parents-teachers association. That way, you can gather rich insights that would otherwise get ignored down the line.
Endnote
Creating safe spaces more than improves learning and safety. They also help promote fairness in the academe and allow student-athletes to uphold important societal values they can exercise on the field and in life.
