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SPORTS: Following-up on McMaster Athletics’ racism allegations
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It’s been two years since the allegations so, what has changed?
Sava Jankovic Sports Reporter
Just under two years ago a McMaster University student athlete, Steven Archachan, was accused of tweeting racist posts on social media, which provoked a mass reaction to get the player off the team. Although Archanan was kicked off the lacrosse team, there are still many issues surrounding McMaster athletics and systemic racism.
Another issue the school encountered was surrounding Glenn DeCaire, the director of parking and security, who allegedly faced a many allegations of racist behaviour. At one point, over 6,000 individuals signed a petition to fire the now ex-police chief from his role on campus.
While all of these incidents occurred in the past, after the Systemic Review of the Black Student-Athlete Experience and the McMaster Athletics Climate was released, there was a major outcry yet again. Many news sources, incluing The Silhouette, covered it and many students were surprised to see this many controversial incidents happening at McMaster. What exactly did McMaster do to combat these events after the document was released?
“Overall, I think that the McMaster response has been somewhat effective. There are many areas where we have seen some improvement, but there are still many areas that haven’t even been looked at. Sure, I think that the school has been taking some steps to reduce the systemic racism within the sports department, which is good news. For instance, the Black Athlete Student Body has been formed, yet I just don’t think that it’s enough to counter the 60 page document that listed enormous racial instances,” said Nana Yaw Serbeh, a member of the Marauders football team.
“Ever since I came to McMaster in 2018, it’s evident that the Black student experience just hasn’t been the same compared to other races within the athletics department. I think that the document released a few years ago clearly outlines that. There are so many instances where Black student athletes were not treated the same as other races and it really does make me angry,” explained Serbeh.
In the system review published by the athletics department in October 2020, there were multiple instances of different Black athletes being put down by coaches and other members of the Marauders.
“Just one of the horrible situations that Black athletes have found themselves in goes way back to 2014, I believe. Essentially, a student athlete wished to discuss a problem he had within the squad and arranged a meeting with personnel higher up. However, when he arrived at the meeting, nobody was there to welcome him or speak to him. He was left alone in the situation and had nobody to help him,” said Serbeh.
Although there’s plenty that McMaster can still work on to improve the experience of Black student-athletes and the way that they are treated, the school has taken steps to create spaces and opportunities for them. For example, the school just recently announced that the Athletics department has created 21 financial awards for Black student athletes, in an effort to create a more welcoming and motivational atmosphere within the community.
“I think that there is much more to do for McMaster athletics. One of the things that I’d like to see is a more welcoming atmosphere to the Black student athletes and more Black student athletes in general. I think that we are making some movement, but it’s simply not good enough yet. We’ve raised a lot of awareness and I think that the community should be more aware of the incidents that occur on campus and that they should be addressed correctly,” explained Serbeh.
There have certainly been efforts on behalf of McMaster to rectify the challenges and racism faced by Black student athletes.
They have made considerable efforts to welcome Black student athletes to the sports scene, but is that enough to create meaningful and lasting change?
Nana Yaw Serbeh
Marauder’s Football Defensive Back
TRAVIS NGUYEN/PHOTO EDITOR
Keenan Jeppesen: An alum advocating for Black student athletes
Keenan Jeppesen, the Associate Director of High Performance, seeks to advocate for and represent Black student athletes
Acacia Lio
Sports Staff Writer
McMaster’s Department of Athletics and Recreation has recently been restructured to have separate staff groups that cover both athletics and recreation. These are headed by associate directors who report to the Primary Director, Shawn Burt. Trish Chant-Sehl is the associate director, recreation and healthy living, whereas Keenan Jeppesen is the associate director, high performance.
Jeppesen joined McMaster Athletics and Recreationin January. His roots in the McMaster community run deep — as a child growing up in Hamilton, he attended McMaster basketball camps. He returned to McMaster as a student working towards his MBA and played on the Marauders men’s basketball team as a forward in the 2009-10 season, donning number 13.
Upon earning his MBA, Jeppesen worked for Viacom and Ubiquiti Networks before returning to McMaster to work as the director of basketball operations from 2018 to 2021. Afterward, Jeppesen began to work with the Onyx Initiative, aiming to help Black and Afro-Canadian students connect with corporate Canada to earn internships and work experience. Now, Jeppesen has found himself back with McMaster once again in the role of associate director, high performance.
“McMaster’s always been important to me and I think it’s such an important part of Hamilton; [it is] the fabric of the community. And I’m just so happy to kind of be back in this capacity and help kind of continue the great tradition that McMaster has and really build upon that and try to take it to a new level,” said Jeppesen.
In this role, Jeppesen covers everything competitive, from teams that compete at the U Sports or national level, teams that compete in Ontario University Athletics competitions, clubs and recreational teams that compete in other leagues and the staff that support them, including field therapists, strength and conditioning coaches and even student services coordinators.
As the role is a newer one, Jeppesen is working to define the role for himself and for the department. High performance is a general term and he hopes to take a holistic approach to it, covering everything both on and off the court.
“It just doesn’t mean wins or losses, but it’s really about the development of our student athletes academically, as leaders and community members both within Hamilton and the greater McMaster community. [They are a] source of pride and true ambassadors of the McMaster values and missions,” explained Jeppesen.
With Jeppesen’s experience in uplifting Black voices, a large part of his role is implementing a response after the ‘Black Student-Athlete Systemic Review’ that came out in October 2022. Part of this response is the 21 financial awards for Black student athletes, called the ‘Black Excellence Athletic Financial Awards’. The application involves short submissions from Black student-athletes that highlight their leadership and excellence to the community.
“The way I continue to support in the review response [is] really just bringing my own lived experience to the role and understanding Black and BIPOC student athletes and just trying to bring that lens to the decisions we make within the department and creating programs that in some cases are specific to them,” explained Jeppesen.
In addition to lending his own perspective to the situation, Jeppesen seeks to build the athletics and recreation department up by incorporating student feedback.
“[I’m] trying to be someone that student athletes of all ethnicities are comfortable coming to share their perspective and really just trying to build a department that really incorporates the feedback of our student athletes and making sure that we reflect their values and deliver the services that are important to them,” said Jeppesen.
In this role, Jeppesen is able to combine his passion for strategy with working and uplifting student-athletes. Continuous improvement within the Department of Athletics and Recreation can be expected under Jeppesen’s leadership.
PHOTO C/O Keenan Jeppesen
Keenan Jeppesen
Keenan Jeppesen
Although they finished 6th at the OUA, the McMaster badminton team is full of talent
Sava Jankovic Sports Reporter
Every sport at McMaster University is unique in its own way. Each sport has a backstory to it and every team member is talented in their own way. Badminton is just another one of those unique sports that McMaster has to offer. With over 20 competitors on the squad, it has so much to offer in terms of talent and individualism. However, there is one player who has impressed last weekend during the Ontario University Athletics championships in Waterloo. Talia Ng is a third-year student currently studying life sciences and is expected to graduate this year. Nonetheless, she has been extremely impressive during this season’s badminton campaign, racking up a handful of awards during the weekend. Her first award came through at the end of the OUA championships, where she was awarded the OUA
MVP and was given all-star recognition. Although extremely impressive, her success did not end there. Just a day later Ng was named as the Marauder of the week along with Alex Drover, a runner on the men’s track team, which concluded a very eventful week for the badminton team.
“Last week was overall a mixed experience for me. I think that as a team we have done our best, but I can’t say that I am extremely happy with the outcome. We came sixth out of eight teams, so it simply isn’t that great. As for the team, I feel that we are much closer altogether compared to the previous years. They are a great set of people and many of us are very supportive of each other, which is something I feel is really important for us,” said Ng.
Ng is the first female Marauder to receive an OUA championships most valuable player award since 2003.
“I am really honored to have received all these awards. They certainly do bring me confidence, even though I didn’t really expect it. To be honest, I think that it is unfair in a way because my team has done so much as well last week. We worked as a group together and I think that our team overall deserves the same accolades as I do,” explained Ng.
Transitioning from a university into the world of professional sports can be a challenge, but Ng is ready to take it on. She hopes to continue her athletics journey and pursue further heights in badminton beyond her time at McMaster.
“I am most definitely looking into starting a badminton career after school. My goal is to reach the Olympics someday, but I know that it will take a lot of hard work to get there,” said
Ng. While the Marauders didn’t do exceptionally well last weekend, the enthusiasm and closeness within the team has shown that there is a bright future ahead for the team. Its members can look forward to taking on a new set of challenges in the upcoming year and working
JESSICA YANG/PRODUCTION ASSISTANT
Talia Ng
OUA MVP with All-Star Recognition and Maurader of the Week
McMaster Sports Business Association is preparing for their annual industry conference
MSBA’s yearly industry conference is quickly approaching and this year’s concept is looking like a winner
Jovan Popovic Sports Editor
The McMaster Sports Business Association’s sports industry conference is back, this time taking place on March 22 from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. The annual conference, which has become a mainstay for the MSBA, is something that the organization is extremely proud of and excited to offer to McMaster students looking for opportunities in sports.
Presidents Jared Bertrim and Tenzin Choney spoke very optimistically when discussing the upcoming event, stating that it is something that their entire executive team had dedicated themselves to. There’s a reason that this is the pillar event for the MSBA.
“This is our flagship event — it’s the one we put the most time and effort into at the end of the year. It’s a three-hour long conference. In the past we’ve had it in person, due to COVID this year unfortunately we have to have it online. We’re still going to have a great lineup of guests through three different panels,” said Bertrim.
The guest speaker panel this year features three primary sections; sports marketing, sports finance and a McMaster alumni panel. The MSBA aims to provide insight and opportunity for their members through this event by offering an elite group of speakers in each of these sections. Each section will have an allotted time of 50 minutes. Each panel will feature guests with interesting knowledge and perspectives to share.
“Those attending can expect an interactive event. I know we’ve all probably been to a lot of Zoom meetings or conferences where we sit back and listen, but we’re looking forward to being very interactive, where we have workshops [and] where you can work in breakout rooms . . . A big feature as a whole is the question-and-answer periods — that’s where we find students get the most value,” said Bertrim.
Of the three sections, both presidents seem to agree that the alumni panel is the one they are most looking forward to. It’s a new section to the conference, but one that will surely be of interest to many students.
“This is actually our first year that we’re doing the McMaster alumni panel. The MSBA is six or seven years old and in the past we haven’t had that deep of an alumni network to pull from, to get speakers from. Now that we have a couple past presidents, a couple past McMaster students, we’re excited to have that panel,” explained Bertrim.
Choney also expressed her excitement for the new panel, explaining how interesting it will be to follow the journey of past McMaster students and past club members. It is largely viewed as an opportunity for current students to see the steps that alumni with similar academic or career aspirations have taken to get themselves into a position of success in the
Jared Bertrim
Co-President of the MSBA
PHOTO C/O MSBA
sports industry.
“I think this year it’s going to be super exciting because of the alumni panel. We get to ask them how they started at McMaster to where they are now, so kind of following along their journey after grad,” said Choney.
Although they are disappointed to have to host the conference online this year, they are happy to reap the benefits of a virtual conference, for example drawing in large crowds of student audiences.
“In the past we’ve stuck to local Hamilton guests, who have been great, but this year we get to go further and beyond. One of our panel alumni members works in Montreal right now for their hockey team, so we’re excited to have some further stretched members join our event,” explained Bertrim.
With the school year nearing a close, the MSBA is hoping to cap it off on a high note with their industry conference. Exams are a stressful time for nearly everyone and an event like this could be a great way to relieve some stress and enjoy it.
“We usually like to end the year with a bang. Exams are around the corner, so we want to end the year great,” said Choney.
Speakers have not yet been announced, but will continue to be revealed as the date of the conference arrives. Those interested in attending must purchase club membership for five dollars. More information can be found on the club’s social media accounts on Instagram or Facebook.
Tenzin Choney
Co-President of the MSBA
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