James Franklin confirmed on Wednesday the Nittany Lions will exercise their right under a July ruling by the NCAA that gives teams the ability to modify their uniforms with patches or name changes in favor of social messaging.
‘We do have a plan, it’s in discussion right now between myself the Leadership Council, the administration.’ Franklin said during a virtual media day with reporters on Wednesday. ‘But I think the thing that’s important to me is how do you make a statement, but then how do you also align with actionable items that are going to make a difference? A tweet is nice, but what are some of the things that we can do to make to make things better, and that’s for everybody.’
Franklin spoke at length during his media session about his role in a handful of voting public service announcements as well as his players’ involvement in various rallies and social change movements that have taken place in the community and across the country over the course of an emotional and racially charged summer.
The NCAA recently announced that election day would be a mandated off day while the Big Ten and other conferences have announced various voter registration initiatives in the lead-up to the 2020 general election just over a month away.
‘I’ve been proud of our players for being vocal about things that are important to them,’ Franklin said.
‘I will tell you [what I find interesting]. Whenever we post something or I post something on social media about voting. There’s a certain group that just attacks me on social media or attacks our social media. And just to be clear, we’re not telling anybody who to vote for or what to vote for. We’re trying to get our young people, active in the process.’
‘We want our young people to be active in the process to do their own research, have their own opinions and and then vote how they see fit, and that’s what we’re doing at Penn State. I would hope that everybody in our country, if we’re talking about politics, either side, I think we all want our young people in our country and specifically students on college campuses to be involved in the process. I think that’s that’s important for whatever side of the aisle you sit on.’
For Franklin, who has appeared in voting PSAs both online and on local in-state television, the decision to take an active role in such a process makes him unique among a peer group that largely steers away from anything that might be perceived as political. While Franklin has yet to endorse a candidate and seems unlikely to do so, even the promotion of basic civic duties wades into political waters during a particularly unsettled time across the nation.
In turn, the landscape in which Franklin operates creates an unavoidable and delicate balance between the nature of his surroundings and the conviction of he and his team’s beliefs. Penn State’s reach is broad, and within the state that may very well turn the tide of the upcoming election. Everything is under a microscope, and every public decision is open for public interpretation.
And so the question becomes, is it more important to stay quiet, or is there a little room to make people uncomfortable if it means change can follow.
‘For there to be any growth, and I think for there to be any change then there is an aspect of it that’s education, and there’s an aspect of it that is about making people a little bit uncomfortable,’ Franklin said.
‘We talk about it all the time in our program that for you to truly grow, you have to break outside of your normal routines. And typically, when you’re uncomfortable is when you’re growing the most and and that’s our job is to challenge the people in our program to grow.
‘And when it comes to the social issues, there’s always that fine line of how do we represent ourselves, how do we make a statement, but how do we also do it in a way that aligns with our university and with our community as well. That’s not always easy to do, to make all those different groups – comfortable with how you’re expressing. You’ve got a bunch of 18 to 22 year old males from diverse backgrounds. You’ve got a university that is steeped in tradition and history which I think is great. And then you also have you also have the community that we live in as well so it’s it’s never easy to make everybody comfortable with the process. But I think as long as we’re thoughtful and, and we have a process and we understand and we’re intentional and thoughtful, then I think that I hope everybody will respect that.’
