On Wednesday Feb. 5, Eagle Advocates, a club at University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, held its fourth annual Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) night. The event was held concurrently with UWL’s women’s basketball team as they battled University of Wisconsin-Platteville in their ninth conference game.
Eagle Advocates was founded in 2020 after the murder of George Floyd. The protests surrounding the event inspired athletes to make a club targeting racial equity in athletics. Eagle Advocates is an exclusive group for student-athletes dedicated to raising awareness and fostering a sense of community around DEI discussions.
Kenny Desrosiers the assistant men’s basketball coach, athletics equity lesion and president of Eagle Advocates said, “It’s great to get athletes together, especially during a hard time, to just have difficult conversations… we want to help everyone be more comfortable talking about diversity, equity and inclusion.”
DEI night was first debuted in 2022 with the men’s basketball team. Low fan engagement led to athletes wanting to push for new ways to bring attendance up. Eagle Advocate’s DEI night was a way to give back to the community while simultaneously involving them in on-campus endeavors.
“A lot of the time athletics just wants people to come to their games, this is our opportunity to give back to the groups that support us. It’s a two-way street and we utilize this night to do that,” Desrosiers said.
With Eagle Advocates and the UWL men’s basketball team working in tandem, they were able to partner with many on and off campus groups. Clubs and campus organizations such as The Pride Center, Student Support Services, Black Student Unity and Multicultural Student Services could be found tabling outside of the gym in Mitchell Hall. Men’s basketball also partnered with the Boys and Girls Club of La Crosse, the YMCA, schools in the La Crosse area and other local organizations focused on DEI.
“It feels really nice to be in an area that’s actively working towards keeping our community [LGBTQ+] more visible on campus,” said Ozzy Glazer, a third-year peer educator for The Pride Center.
As the club has grown other sports such as women’s basketball, women’s lacrosse and cross country have added inclusion nights to their home game schedules. Eagle Advocate’s goal is to have each team at UWL dedicate one of their games to an inclusion night.
This year’s DEI night brought in 395 people. While family, friends and fans browsed the tables of campus resources on their walk in, extra resources flashed on the scoreboard. During halftime these resources were shown again as well as read out loud, all of which can be found on the UWL Athletics website.
Not only did Eagle Advocates have another successful inclusion night, the women’s basketball team increased their record to 12-8. The 75-65 win bumped their conference record to 4-5 leaving them tied for fourth place in the WIAC. The team’s next home game is Saturday, Feb. 8 against University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.
The club’s next DEI night is on Wednesday, Feb. 12 where UWL men’s basketball will take on UWEC in their tenth conference game. If any athletes are looking to join Eagle Advocates, they can email Coach Desrosiers at [email protected].
