The UMD athletic program strives for success in competition, community, and classroom, and the student-athletes consistently excel in all three areas. Community service got a big boost in Fall 2022 when the UMD Athletic Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Council was formed and made a commitment to volunteering.
At every sporting event in December 2022, men's and women’s basketball, and men's and women’s hockey, the students collected clothes. “We focused on getting clothing for youth in Kindergarten through 12th grade,” says Joshua Brown, the president of the DEI council. Throughout each sporting event, all of the teams who weren’t playing in the game that night helped run the clothing drive.
“We also had a few drop boxes at UMD throughout December,” says Brown. The athletes collected jackets and coats, shoes and boots, and lightly-used clothing. “We ended up donating hundreds of pieces of clothing and other items,” he says. The donations went to Duluth schools Myers Wilkins Elementary, Lincoln Park Middle School, and Denfeld High School.
The council is relatively new, having formed after a conversation in the summer of 2022 between the newly-hired UMD Athletic Director, Forrest Karr and Brown. Karr was impressed with Brown’s other volunteer activities, and upon learning many student athletes were interested in DEI issues, worked with Brown to form the council. The DEI Council seeks to foster a “diverse, equitable, and inclusive culture on campus and throughout the community, by striving to ensure that the voices of our Bulldog student-athletes are heard.”