Senior Riley Patrick Named 2024-25 ACC SAAC Executive Board Chair
9/11/2024 1:42:00 PM | Life Skills, Women's Lacrosse
CHARLOTTE, NC - The Atlantic Coast Conference announced its 2024-25 Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) Executive Board for the upcoming year last Thursday. Pitt lacrosse senior Riley Patrick will serve as the Chair of the 2024-25 SAAC Executive Board.
Patrick will lead the executive board with the help of ACC SAAC Vice Chair Atira O'Neil of the Stanford artistic swimming team and Matthew Dennis of the Wake Forest football team who will serve as the ACC's representative to the NCAA Division I SAAC, which reports directly to the NCAA Division I Council.
"Leading this group is to be the voice of every student-athlete from all 18 member institutions," said Patrick. "As recent and ongoing events continue to remold the landscape of college athletics, it is an incredible responsibility to ensure each school, each sport and each team is represented and heard, and it means the world to be trusted with such a responsibility. I am proud to lead the ACC SAAC this academic year alongside the rest of the amazing student-athletes elected to the executive board, and I can't express enough appreciation for the support from Pitt and the ACC in taking on this responsibility."
"SAAC - both at our respective institutions and the conference level - is a vital committee that we significantly rely on for input surrounding both league and national initiatives," said ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips, Ph.D. "ACC SAAC represents our more than 12,200 student-athletes across all 18 of our member institutions, completing in our 28 sponsored sports. The ideas, perspectives, and feedback they provide is critical as we continue to offer the very best educational and athletic opportunities within college athletics."
New this year, the ACC added student-athletes to four ACC Standing Committees. Patrick will be on the Media Committee, Grace Norair of the Duke field hockey team will serve on the Infractions & Sportsmanship Committee, Will Joseph of the North Carolina men's fencing team will be on the Nominating Committee and Hunter Hollenback of the Stanford men's swimming & diving team will serve on the Legislation Committee.
Each of the league's 18 schools put forward their respective ACC SAAC representatives while the Executive Board was selected based on a nomination and voting process among ACC SAAC members.
ACC SAAC representatives play an important role in bridging the gap between administrative personnel and the student-athlete body both at their respective institutions and throughout the conference. The committee is designed to incorporate ideas and opinions from student-athletes into legislative decisions that will affect our academic and athletic pursuits. These athletes are developing valuable leadership skills as they address changes in rules and regulations, organize community service events, and build a positive image for collegiate athletes.
The ACC SAAC will be guided by the following principles: ethics, integrity, fairness, and a respect for diversity, which shall include attention to gender, race, ethnicity and sport.
