Webinar: Navigating DEI in Today’s Landscape

College Sports Communicators

During Global Diversity Awareness Month, the three panelists and moderator, all leaders in the DEI space, offered their thoughts and answered numerous questions from webinar attendees on today's environment for diversity, equity and inclusion in the ever-changing and somewhat volatile politically charged landscape that administrators, coaches and student-athletes are currently navigating in. They spoke on the shift towards a more nuanced approach to DEI - moving away from only offering programming initiatives and training, to policy writing and carving out space for people to bring their authentic selves to work and to the competition fields and arenas. They discussed various ways to build an inclusive workplace when laws and policies are changing all around us. Additionally, they addressed the following in DEI work, with recommendations for CSC members: - Storytelling: How communicators can best show employee and student-athlete impact and how CSC members can help tell these stories and humanize and personalize student-athletes, coaches and staff members in this inclusion space - Read and get educated on legislation and what DEIB (belonging) policies are in your community - Noting the danger of placing DEI work in a silo, as it needs to be woven into the fabric of your department and leadership team - Managing DEI work when serving on a committee/in a department where everyone is not on the same page with the importance of this work - and how to approach people to bring them together - What are the "blind spots" right now when it comes to inclusion work in athletic departments, and strategies and ideas in managing them - Best methods to ask DEI questions to lead to healthy conversations when those conversations have not typically taken place in your workspace Panelists: - Derek Cowherd, University of Louisville Associate Athletics Director for Community and Culture - DeeDee Merritt, NCAA Managing Director, Leadership Development - Ashleigh Clare-Kearney Thigpen, LSU Associate Athletics Director for Strategic Advancement Moderator: - Kendrell Watkins, Long Island University Senior Associate Athletics Director for Revenue Generation