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Abstract

National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) member institutions have addressed social issues, such as racial justice, via team or athletic department social media platforms. Often the social media strategy is managed by a content creator within the athletic department. However, coaching staff members may be concerned with what is posted to team or athletic department accounts because of the public facing nature of their job, their use of social media in recruitment efforts, and their role in creating a positive environment for current athletes. We surveyed 128 coaches across divisions to determine perceptions of their athletic department’s race-related activism on social media. Based on our results, we propose the Continuum of Race-Related Social Media Activism, which is informed by Critical Race Theory and Colorblindness. This continuum includes activist sentiments, “pass the buck” sentiments, and inactivist sentiments. The proposed continuum provides a preliminary framework to assess race-related social media activism efforts across stakeholders, social issues, and sport organizations. The theoretical and practical implications of the overall continuum and each sentiment are discussed.

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