UNI Athletics Earns Character Award as Part of Voter Registration Efforts

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa - Cedar Valley Character Counts awarded UNI Athletics with the Pursuing Victory With Honor Award for hosting the Ross Initiative in Sports for Equality (RISE) and its RISE to Vote seminar for all of its more than 400 UNI student-athletes. The event was the beginning of a year-long effort to increase voter registration among student-athletes. The award is presented to an athletics team, coach, student-athlete or organization that demonstrates commitment to sportsmanship and good character.

"This award is a tremendous recognition of the work of the efforts of our student-athlete development team, specifically our Life Skills Coordinator Andrea Greve Coello, to encourage our student-athletes to do their civic duty and participate in the democratic process," Director of Athletics David Harris said. "Voting is an essential element of a free society, and we wanted our student-athletes to understand the important role that their voice plays in choosing our nation's leaders."

RISE is a national nonprofit that educates and empowers the sports community to eliminate racial discrimination, champion social justice, and improve race relations by becoming more informed and engaged citizens. The UNI RISE to Vote event took place in the fall of 2019 with the goal of the program to raise the level of knowledge of UNI student-athletes around issues of race and social justice, diversity, and community engagement, and to register student-athletes to vote.

This event was a collaborative effort between the UNI Athletics Department, RISE, League of Women Voters, and the UNI American Democracy Project. At this event, student-athletes heard from guest speaker, Isaiah Stanback, a former NFL player and successful entrepreneur. Stanback shared his story and encouraged students to be champions of civic engagement. Also at the event, student-athletes heard from a panel including Isaiah Stanback, Harris and current UNI Softball senior Adara Opiola.

"It is gratifying to be recognized by the community for our work. Knowing our student-athletes are committed day in and day out to maximize their time at UNI keeps me motivated to continue to provide opportunities for them, and to empower them to take action on their ideas," Greve Coello said. "Whether it's voting initiatives, social justice work or community service projects, I get to empower our student-athletes to use their platform for good and to help develop them into leaders who continue to do great things beyond their time here on campus."

UNI Athletics continued its collaborations with American Democracy Project as part of the #PanthersVote initiative, a cross-campus project aimed at increasing student civic engagement. The UNI student-athlete development group also coordinated with the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) and the Minority Student-Athlete Leadership Team (MSALT) to increase voter participation.

Any student-athlete or athletics staff member who registered to vote received a VOTE face covering with a Panther logo. UNI Athletics also used social media to encourage voter registration and answer common questions with the help of political science professor, Dr. Christopher Larimer.

Another important part of the effort was the opportunity to utilize the UNI-Dome as an early-voting location and as a polling place. UNI Athletics, UNI campus leadership and the Black Hawk County Auditor's office worked together to help find solutions to problems that arose with the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the first week of October, Black Hawk Country residents could vote early in-person in the Dome and today, the Dome will be open as an early-polling location, allowing election participants to cast their ballots in a large area with plenty of space for social distancing. It is the first time that the UNI-Dome has been used as a polling location for the general election.

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