Brandeis Men's Ultimate Frisbee – better known as Tron – is one of the oldest continuously active club sports at the University. The team got its start as the Whippets in during the 1970s, and became Tron at some point in the late 1990s.

Though Tron, like all other teams at Brandeis, was unable to compete during the 2020 spring season, they found a way to bring their community together from a distance while forming a commitment to social activism.

In the aftermath of the death of George Floyd and the protests that erupted around it, Tron and their counterparts from the women's Ultimate team, known as Banshee, knew that they couldn't sit idly by. As organizations from across the country and across the globe began expressing support for the Black Lives Matter movement, Banshee issued a statement on June 1 that read, in part "…it is our duty to donate, support initiatives and actively practice anti-racism."

Although Tron leadership had been discussing issuing a statement of their own, the Banshee message spurred them to action. "Tron and Banshee are very close, and seeing them use their platform to encourage their members to make a difference helped push us to do the same," said Tron president Andrew Marshall '20. "All of Tron's leadership (Matt Sehgal '22, Connor Chin '21, Matt Kolk '22 and Sam Gessman '23) were excited to plan and announce our fundraiser the next day."

The Tron announcement included a promise to match $250 in donations made to bail funds, legal funds, and other organizations helping the Black Lives Matter cause. And while Marshall expected there to be some excitement over the initiative, he was overwhelmed by the amount of support that the club was able to achieve. "Current members, alumni, friends and family of Trons all stepped up in a big way," Marshall said. "I wasn't surprised that we received support from alumni during this fundraiser. What I wasn't expecting were alums offering to match donations."

Indeed, beyond the initial match of the team, alumni agreed to match a total of $2,600, as the club went on to raise a total of $7,600 over the course of just two weeks and with just a few simple social media posts and e-mail messages. "The amount of support the community has given to efforts aimed to end police brutality, racial inequality and injustice has been overwhelming and awe-inspiring…," read their final social media post of the campaign. "[We are] fortunate to have a voice in a large active community that supports each other and the world around us."

If you are interested in further educating yourself further on anti-racism efforts, please visit https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/.