#WeAreUnited leaders not happy regarding Thursday night meeting with Pac-12
The leaders of the #WeAreUnited group made sure that Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott knew they weren't happy regarding that results of Thursday's meeting. In another email they sent out on Friday to Scott and the conference, the players described their feelings as "disappointed" and "deeply concerned."
The two sides held their first conference call with one another on Thursday evening, four days after the players went public with their list of demands and threatened to boycott the season if they weren't met.
The goals/demands from the #WeAreUnited group consist of; 1.) Health and safety protections, 2.) Protection of all sports, 3.) End racial injustice in college sports and society, and 4.) Economic freedom and equality. The players want all of these demands for anybody wearing a college uniform, meaning for both scholarship and walk-on athletes.
Following the call on Thursday, Sports Illustrated was able to learn through sources that the two-hour call was deemed "productive" by Scott. The call mostly centered on the player-only movement’s health and safety concerns regarding COVID-19, which were described as “constructive.” While are there are no official meetings scheduled in the future, both sides are expected to check back in with one another next week.
As it turns out, the leaders of #WeAreUnited group not only didn't see the call as productive, saying in a response email on Friday, "were all left disappointed and deeply concerned that you are not taking this matter seriously."
The #WeAreUnited response didn't come out of nowhere, and was in fact a response to a follow-up email that Scott sent to the group Friday regarding steps the conference is taking to satisfy the safety concerns that were voiced in Thursday's two-hour call, something Scott said he would do.
The Pac-12 was expected to relay the players’ concerns to the league’s medical advisory committee, which is in the midst of crafting a comprehensive in-season medical plan. That part of Thursday's conversation went smoothest to Scott but was apparently not reassuring to the players. Conference officials had already begun to move forward with the safest measures and protocols prior to the players demands.
In the Friday letter, Scott advised #WeAreUnited to work with the league’s previously formed player-led committees and promised to provide more information to the group soon.
The reason this is such an issue is because they players felt they aren't being heard or respected by Scott in anyway, and rather just pushed aside.
The group listed demands that it hopes to see the conference rectify, including uniform safety protocols “consistent with best scientific practices,” written confirmation that COVID liability waivers will not be used, the right to have attorneys present during calls and the scheduling of daily meetings with league officials. Also in a new demand, they seek daily testing for COVID-19.
“While we are discouraged by the tone, tenor, and general unpreparedness of Pac-12 leadership during our meeting, there is still an opportunity for the Pac-12 to change course before leading the conference into disaster,” says the letter by the #WeAreUnited group.
The four conference officials represented on the call were commissioner Larry Scott, Arizona State athletic director Ray Anderson, Utah athletic director Mark Harlan and Pac-12 assistant commissioner Chris Merino, the league’s liaison to student-athlete groups.
The player-led group as 18 players signed the letter on Friday this time, up from the 11 who originally signed it last Sunday.
Ty Amos-Jones, University of Washington; Dylan Boles, Stanford University; Treyjohn Butler, Stanford University; Andrew Cooper, UC Berkeley; Jake Curhan, UC Berkeley; Valentino Daltoso, UC Berkeley; Joshua Drayden, UC Berkeley; Nick Ford, University of Utah; Elisha Guidry, UCLA; Jaydon Grant, Oregon State; Malik Hausman, University of Arizona; Elijah Higgins, Stanford University; Dallas Hobbs, Washington State; Jevon Holland, University of Oregon; Otito Ogbonnia, UCLA; Cody Shear, Arizona State; Joe Tryon, University of Washington; Chase Williams, USC
Where this goes from here is anybody's call as reports began to come out on Saturday that college football may be canceled for the entire season — which would in effect give both the #WeAreUnited group and Scott more time to find common ground regarding their issues.
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