Former Ohio State safety Malcolm Jenkins answers questions in a Q&A in his return to campus to discuss social justice in the workplace. Credit: Ari Horton | Lantern Reporter
Redefining Athletic Standards — RAS, hosted an event Tuesday featuring Ohio State alumni and current NFL safety for the Philadelphia Eagles, Malcolm Jenkins.
The event was centered around social justice inside the workplace and Jenkins’ work in an organization called Players Coalition that he co-founded with Anquan Boldin while playing in the NFL. The Players Coalition focuses on three topics: police and community relations, criminal justice reform and economic and education advancement.
On the Players Coalition website, it states the organization was founded in 2017 “with the collective goal of making an impact on social justice and racial equality at the federal, state, and local levels through advocacy, awareness, education, and allocation of resources.”
The event took place in the Journalism Building and drew in a crowd of about 50 people.
RAS is a newly established organization on campus that strives to bring athletes together to give them a voice. They host events that help people come together to discuss social, growth and mental issues.
This event did just that.
The evening began with food, music and chatter among people as the event was beginning to take place.
The event touched on topics of black incarceration, unity within the black community and protecting the future by starting with the youth.
Jenkins said it was a proud moment to return to his alma mater to speak at an event like this.
“I love coming back every year, but to come back in this manner is something unique,” Jenkins said.
Jenkins talked about finding his role in the world to make it a better place.
He said that it took him “many years of trial and error” to really figure out what his role is, and the Players Coalition is a result of finding that role.
Austin Mack, president of RAS and senior wide receiver for Ohio State said the organization had the recurring idea of bringing someone special to campus that exemplifies what the mission of RAS is.
Mack said the first person that came to mind to bring back to campus “was obviously Malcolm Jenkins.”
Looking toward the future, Mack said that RAS hopes to host more events with big names like this one with Jenkins.
Mack even teased toward the potential of who the organization will be able to bring in the coming months.
“I don’t want to spoil anything yet, but this fall we’re going to have a really big time speaker coming through,” Mack said.
