Entire Loyola athletic department tours Illinois Holocaust Museum
BONNIE SPORN
A suburban Cleveland high school football team uses the word “Nazi,” and racial slurs, in its play-calling, during a game against a team in a heavily Jewish town.
Two athletes at University of Michigan spray paint graffiti on a Jewish school resource center.
Clearly, school sports have become less of a “safe space” for Jewish athletes and fans.
On a fall day between High Holidays–before war broke out in Israel–the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center opened its doors to the faculty and staff of Loyola University Chicago for a private docent-led tour.
This most recent visit followed an initiative created by Loyola’s Department of Athletics, in which 300 members of the department–student athletes, coaches, and chaplains–toured the Museum in a series of 10 different tours last spring.
The visits marked the first time that a college or university has sent an entire athletic program to the Museum. It was made possible through a grant designed to educate athletes of Loyola, a Jesuit, Catholic university. The initiative was crafted by the Rambler Alliance for Equity, in partnership with the Atlantic 10 Conference’s Commission on Racial Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion.
Patti Ray, Loyola’s Founding Hillel Director Emerita, and Lauren Schwer, university minister and spiritual educator, facilitated the collaboration between the school and the museum.
“The impact of these tours was immense, and extends far beyond the individuals who participated,” Ray said. “This was all about athletes, and athletes really do hold a place of special honor in our culture.”
Near the end of the tour, the athletes participated in a Q&A session with the late Holocaust survivor Fritzie Fritzshall–through the technological magic of the Museum’s interactive experience with holograms of Survivors.
The exchange, for most, marked the first time they’d heard a story directly from a survivor. Many of the guests were brought to tears.
“We truly appreciate when different aspects of our university communities spend time learning about Jewish history,” said Charles Cohen, Executive Director of Metro Chicago Hillel. “[These opportunities] help them develop a better appreciation for how Jewish students are affected by and think about contemporary issues.”
Nayantara Abraham, Research and Data Coordinator for Loyola University’s DEI team, was profoundly impacted by the tour. “It made me want to pay more attention in my everyday activities, and notice injustices,” she said. “Because it’s really easy to think that I’m just one person, and that it’s not going to really make a difference–but all of these people were ‘just one person,’ right?”
Bonnie Sporn is a freelance writer living in the Chicago area.
