University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men’s basketball coach Lamont Paris and associate athletic director of compliance Ken Jones are part of a 15-person Racial Equity and Justice Task Force created by the Southern Conference, the league announced Tuesday.
The panel includes at least one representative from each of the 10 member schools and, according to the league office, is composed by “a racially diverse group of student-athletes, coaches, campus administrators and athletics staff members.” It will counsel the league, identifying concepts and develop actionable items that can be used by all member schools to improve racial equity and social justice.
The main goals of the task force are promoting diversity; education; support for key constituents; awareness and marketing. The group will meet regularly, seeking input from campus and community constituents to engage in conversations with student-athletes on the focus areas, which includes raising awareness about mental health.
It also supports the NCAA and SoCon’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee’s voting initiatives.
“This is a great initiative by our conference,” Jones said. “It gives us a chance to impact all of our schools and programs in a positive way as we learn from each other. We’ll be able to share ideas and best practices from our own experience while seeing what works on other campuses.
“Most importantly, this is a step towards further developing the student-athlete experience. That’s what I think is most important moving forward.”
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3.