MUNCIE, Ind. — A group of Ball State University students and alumni can now consider themselves published writers.
Journalism Professor Dr. Adam Kuban teaches the sports reporting and writing course in the university's college of communication, information and media.
In 2021, Kuban guided his students through the prior civil unrest in the United States.
"I started to think about how I could bring some of the current issues of our day into that class, and what could we do that might make an impact?" Kuban said.
He worked with a publisher, The Facing Project, and his students quickly accepted the idea of writing a book.
"Students want to do work that is meaningful, and they will work hard, as long as there is benefit to somebody," Kuban said. They like that altruistic angle."
About 30 Ball State students contributed to the book, titled "Facing Social Justice in Sports."
Released on Sept. 13, the book is comprised of 21 different stories from athletes, coaches and sports media professionals battling and overcoming social justice issues in sports.
"This is about lived experiences," Kuban said. "It's about stories."
Those stories include people at all levels of the game, from youth sports to professionals sports. For Hoosiers, Kuban said the book includes representatives from both the Indianapolis Colts and the Indiana Pacers.
Some of the topics include racism, gender equality, poverty, international student rights, mental health, disability and LGBTQ+ challenges.
"Our students identify with some of the issues discussed," Kuban said, "and so they learn, and that's also a very important outcome from this book."
Zach Greer is a junior at Ball State. He is taking Kuban's class this semester and, along with his classmates, is continuing this project. That means sometimes having difficult conversations in class.
"I think this class is super important, because of the fact that we don't those conversations," Greer said. "People don't really feel inclined to have them. It's always a very touchy subject."
Greer described the book as eye-opening, with some of the book's subjects being well-known athletes.
"One of the chapters is about Cincinnati Bengals (safety) Jesse Bates," Greer said. "I would have literally never known anything about that had we not put that in the book in the first place. That's what this class is all about - getting people more informed about what's going on in society as a whole."
Mitchell Carter was a student in Kuban's class in 2021. He wrote the chapter on Bates, which opens the book.
"The biggest realization for me would be how different I am from somebody else, but also how similar I am," Carter said.
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As an added challenge, Kuban asked his students to write the entire book in first person.
"It's very powerful and very personal," Kuban said. "I wanted my students to tell their story as though they were that storyteller."
"Writing a story about someone else in the first person, you've really got to put yourself in their shoes," Carter said. "There is also a huge reward at the end when I showed Jesse what I had written, and he liked it. He really enjoyed the final product, and he was really proud of it."
Now, as Kuban's fall class continues this writing project, current students are looking for more stories to tell.
Kuban said anyone interested in sharing their story can do so through "The Facing Project" website or by contacting him directly.
"We are looking for more stories, for coaches, for athletes, and for sports professionals," Kuban said.
"Being able to be in this type of class where we can learn about others and then write about it and share it out to other people is big, because not a lot of people know about it," Greer said.
Greer said he looks forward to sharing more stories of social justice in sports this semester, while pursuing his goal of becoming a sports journalist.
Andy Newman is one of Greer's classmates in Kuban's course. Newman hopes to focus his upcoming story on mental health in sports. He said mental health is just one small aspect of social justice in sports.
"Now that I've gotten into it, I've realized how important it is and how much it's influenced the history of sports in general," Newman said.
"We live at a very polarized time," Kuban said. "It's divided, and I still think that we have the capacity to listen and to learn and to empathize with other people, and this book showcases that."
Kuban, Greer and Newman have all been involved in sports for years.
Newman managed his high school football and basketball teams and threw the discus for his high school's track and field team.
Greer played tennis for 10 years, in addition to playing basketball, football and competing as a high jumper.
Kuban plays tennis and has served as an assistant coach for the boys' tennis team at Hamilton Southeastern High School since 2019.