Dear Friends of Carleton Ultimate,
We reach out to our frisbee family in a time of uncertainty and anguish as our country faces the grim realities of the COVID-19 crisis and continued injustices and violence against Black people and other People of Color. Ultimate is far from a top priority right now, and yet we find strength from our Carleton frisbee family and have been inspired by the actions we’ve seen Syzygy, CUT, and the alumni network take in recent weeks to join the fight for Black lives.
Given that our fiscal year ended on June 30, we wanted to provide an update on the past year for CUF, look to the year ahead, and spotlight the ways Syzygy and CUT have been using funds and other means to address equity and inclusion in the frisbee community and beyond.
CUF had a strong year due to the generosity of the Carleton ultimate community. Both teams were provided with $15,000 for the school year, and the Carleton Ultimate Endowment now stands at over $100,000. Donations to CUF totaled $71,836, and the Board projects increasing the financial contribution to the current teams by about 17% for the upcoming year.
The current teams budget their CUF funds to support training, dome time, coaching, and player financial aid, and in recent months have been allocating funds to support diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts. We’ve been inspired by the initiative the teams have taken to pursue these important efforts, which have included the following:
Syzygy
- DEI was a direct emphasis for Syzygy 2019-2020 and this was the first year that the team created a DEI committee with the aim of providing structure to learn, reflect on, and empower the team and its players to create positive change within the team, at Carleton, and among the ultimate community. Syzygy explicitly made time for discussions, films, and reading and reflecting on articles that focus on DEI. This work took place during the school year as well as in recent months as the team has continued to engage, share resources, and plan collective donations.
- Syzygy hired a representative from Discover Diversity to provide support to Syzygy’s DEI committee and directly lead the full team in a two-part training.
CUT
- In the wake of George Floyd’s murder, CUT took direct action to support organizations working to dismantle systems of anti-Black oppression and violence and to serve the communities affected during protests. During the week of June 2, CUT donated to seven different organizations, both local and national, that are supporting these efforts. Those organizations are:
Your contributions to CUF have helped make some of these projects possible, and will provide the team with financial means to support such efforts in the future.
We understand there are many other vitally important causes that demand your time, attention, and money at this time. For those who would still like to support CUF, we encourage you to set up a monthly donation to support the teams throughout the upcoming fiscal year. Although club sports cannot compete this fall, it does appear at this time that the teams will be able to practice together if they choose to do so, and we want to make sure they have the resources to be ready to go as soon as it is safe to start competing again.
If you do donate to CUF, we encourage you to also set up donations to support local or national organizations in the fight for racial justice. There are many organizations doing important work that deserve your support. If you’re not sure where to start, you can check out this resource from the Carleton Alumni Relations Office, which includes ways to support students, actions recommended by current students, and a list of information and nationwide resources compiled by alumni.
Every member of the CUF Board has committed to financially supporting racial and social justice organizations, we hope you’ll join us.
Thank you for your support,
The CUF Board
Officers:
Brent Nystrom ’92 (CUT), Chair
Rich Price ’90 (CUT), Secretary
Chris Borden ’84 P’15 (Frisbee Union & Syzygy Parent), Treasurer (outgoing board member)
Board Members:
Laura Blaisdell ’97 (Syzygy)
Katie Ciaglo ’17 (Syzygy) (incoming board member)
Alex Evangelides ’11 (CUT)
Scott Hirschberg ’86 (CUT) (incoming board member)
Miranda Roth Knowles ’04 (Syzygy)
Emily Muirhead McAdam ’08 (Syzygy) (outgoing board member)
Chase Sparling-Beckley ’04 (CUT)
Ted Weldon ’83 (Frisbee Union)
Carleton Ultimate Fund 