By Kirsten Green

At Harvard's Student Involvement Fair in early September, the Athletics Department distributed nearly 5,000 crimson sweatshirts to undergraduate students. On the front was the Harvard Athletics shield; on the back—"One Crimson."
 
As the weather grew colder, the One Crimson sweatshirts became ubiquitous in Harvard Square and across campus—a small way to show connection. As Erin McDermott, the John D. Nichols '53 Family Director of Athletics, told staff at a department meeting this past fall, the message of "One Crimson" means "together as one in our community."
 
"We all come from different places. We all come from different backgrounds. We all have very different experiences from one another," McDermott explained. "We don't know each other's story all the time. And, regardless of all of that, we all come together into this community. Something connects us all in being part of this place. Putting 'One Crimson' on the back was the piece that ties everything together…This is who we want to be."
 
Since her arrival in July 2020, McDermott has led the Athletics Department through one of the most unusual periods in the organization's history. The first year of her tenure included the Covid-19 pandemic, which saw Ivy League athletics competition canceled entirely for the first time since World War II, as well as the social justice resurgence in the wake of George Floyd's murder.
 
It was while formalizing a task force to strengthen the department's equity, diversity, and inclusion efforts in the summer of 2020, that McDermott first used the phrase "One Crimson" to unite the Harvard Athletics community. As McDermott explained, the phrase represents "the cultural expectation that everyone in our community is respected, valued, seen and heard."
 
"It popped into my head as we were mobilizing our EDIB efforts last year. I think the first time I ever used it was in an email to student-athletes," McDermott said. "I had to send a lot of tough messages last year. It was a message around who we are and being responsible to each other, and I ended it with 'One Crimson.'"
 
With the return to campus this past August and the prospect of reconvening the group in a mid-pandemic world, McDermott kept returning to that phrase: "One Crimson."
 
"Under all of these strange circumstances [since arriving at Harvard], I have always felt incredibly welcomed and embraced. I have felt like this community is really special," McDermott said. "People made me feel like, 'Welcome! Happy to have you. Can't wait to work together.' That's exactly the message I wanted to send to students coming here this year: 'We're here together. We're here to support you.'"
 
The initial plan was for each first-year student to receive a sweatshirt to welcome them to campus and to let them know right away that Athletics could be a part of their Harvard experience. "But the more we thought about it, after this year that we all went through, so many first- and second-year students had never been on campus before, and then for the juniors and seniors, it had been a while," McDermott said. "It just felt like if there was ever a time to literally give everyone a warm hug as they return, this was it. And what better way to do that than with a sweatshirt!"
 
Each undergraduate student who picked up a One Crimson sweatshirt also received a signed card from McDermott, welcoming and inviting them to engage in the athletics community. She is hopeful that all students on campus will feel a strong connection to the Athletics Department, not just those who compete for a varsity team.
 
Chelsea Williams '22, a captain of the varsity women's tennis team and co-founder of Harvard Athletics Black Varsity Association (HABVA), believes the sweatshirts are a win. "They provide a sense of unity with not only Harvard Athletics, but for the broader Harvard community—a symbol of pride and hope," she said. "We are connected through our challenges and victories."
 
Just as varsity athletes traditionally receive Department of Harvard Athletics (DHA) sweatshirts, going forward, each new class of first-year students will receive a One Crimson sweatshirt and an invitation to get involved—swimming laps in the Malkin Athletic Center (MAC), playing pickleball in the Murr Center, captaining the club quidditch team, or cheering on their classmates to the women's rugby national championship at Mignone Field.
 
"We are part of something larger than ourselves, which is really special," McDermott said. "Whether you go to school here, work here, are a part of this place—it's a privilege."
 
The cheer of the Harvard faithful has long been, "Go Crimson!" After a discordant stretch for the campus and the country, McDermott added her own unifying spin on the rallying cry this year: "Go Crimson, One Crimson!"