As a leader in the Ohio State community, Gene Smith wants student-athletes to know he’s got their back.
“They are young people going through a challenging time of trying to figure it out, trying to understand why,” Smith says of the recent protests that have consumed Columbus and the nation since the death of George Floyd. “As adults, we need to show our support as they go through the struggle,” Smith added.
Smith, Senior Vice-President and Wolfe Foundation Endowed Athletics Director at The Ohio State University, says he spent the past week holding conversations and zoom calls with athletic directors in the Big Ten Conference and black athletic directors around the country.
He also spoke with coaches at Ohio State about the steps the university should take when it comes to keeping the conversation about race open and transparent.
“First we have to focus on areas where we have control,” he said. “Strategies we want to employ to help our student-athletes to allow them to be able to help, but nationally, I think it's important for all of us to speak up, to share our concern
but also ultimately whatever the ideals are that emerge."
Smith also reflected on the years he grew up on the east of Cleveland during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, where he saw much of the same rise and fall of civil rights and race-related tensions.
“You're not going to eradicate it in my lifetime, that's for sure, but we can certainly expose the racist behavior that exists in our society and deal with it face to face,” Smith said. “For me, it's a constant conversation, it's teaching awareness and then whatever strategies emerge over time I want to be supportive of those so we can ultimately keep it going.”