The start of a new school year always means new titles for undergraduate students, but this year Cheer and Dance coach Rickey Hill has a new role on campus as well.

Hill, who started at Loyola in 2018, was appointed to the Southern States Athletic Conference’s new Racial Justice committee in July.

“I’m very honored to represent Loyola University athletics during this time of civil unrest,” said Hill.

The new committee is called “SSAC SFE Place”, with the “SFE” in the name standing for “Striving for Equality.” The goal of this committee is to find and fight against racial and social injustices at SSAC institutions.

“It’s about providing a ‘safe place’ for student athletes to have a voice, alert campus liaisons of injustices, share thoughts and feelings and be heard. Our goal is to come up with methods to ensure proper representation and inclusion throughout our campus,” said Hill.

A key objective of this committee is to create opportunities for people of color in athletics. The conference has also started an internship program to boost representation of people of color in sports administrative positions.

The new diversity internship is flexible in length for students, it can last for just one semester or for the length of a school year. The internship is open to all people of color who are juniors and seniors at SSAC schools and maintain above a 2.5 grade point average in their chosen major. Information on how to apply can be found on the SSAC website.

“It’s important to continue to have these difficult conversations on racial injustice, inequalities, cultural injustice, and awareness to listen to thoughts and concerns without taking it personally. We want to encourage our students to learn how to relate to people from diverse backgrounds,” said Hill.