Within Loyola University’s Department of Athletics, there’s a group called The Rambler Alliance for Equity, dedicated to ensuring that students and coaches learn the importance of fighting back against discrimination.
“[A] group of staff, students and coaches dedicated to educating the department and make the department a safe environment for everyone,” is how Kieran Murphy describes it. Murphy is Loyola’s Assistant Director of Marketing and Special Events.
The Alliance started in the summer of 2020 after the murder of George Floyd. Since it began, it’s touched on issues like racial justice and mental health, but recently, it explored religion with a trip to the Illinois Holocaust Museum in Skokie.
Murphy helped organize the trip.
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“It might be a Catholic institution, but there’s people from all backgrounds here in our department, faculty and staff, coaching staff,” he said. “So it just seemed natural. There’s a lot of different identities here, and a lot of different identities being targeted now, so it seemed important to look into something we haven’t looked into and discussed as a department yet.”
“We’re really focused on growing our women not just as athletes, not just as intellects, but as humans, so we’re pretty proactive on bringing up what’s going on in the world,” added Allison Guth, the Ramblers head women’s basketball coach.
The Anti-Defamation League reports antisemitic incidents grew by 36% in the United States last year. At the Holocaust Museum, all 13 of the Ramblers’ athletics teams got to experience firsthand how the darkest time in recent Jewish history impacted its people. Some of the teams even got to learn from the daughter of Holocaust survivors.
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“It was powerful,” remembered women’s soccer player Amanda Cassidy. “Really sad to learn about all the discrimination that went around these people, and how we couldn’t be there to do something about it.”
“It was really, really powerful for me to step back and see our players -- the moments where tears filled their eyes, the humility of recognition, when listening to a survivor and their family,” Guth said.
“Seeing people have their eyes opened, or re-learning, remembering, it was powerful, and rewarding,” added Murphy.
The Illinois Holocaust Museum has been open since 2009, and it says in the past, individual teams have come for a tour, but Loyola is the first school or university to bring its entire athletic department in.
“I’m hoping it’s an inspiration to every university, every school, about what it means to build a team that’s committed to justice, to building a better world,” said Bernard Cherkasov, the museum’s CEO. “You’ve got to learn history, because otherwise you’re missing an important part of the puzzle.”
With Loyola’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, the Ramblers hope they are doing their small part to make the world a better place.
