Pilot Workshop raises diversity awareness

Harvey J. Coleman of Coleman Management Consultants of Atlanta assists in presenting the NCAA pilot diversity-training workshop.

 By Ronald D. Mott
THE NCAA NEWS STAFF

  Participants in the recent NCAA pilot diversity-training workshop came away from the session believing they took a step toward overcoming the biases, prejudices and stereotypes that interfere with the achievement of diversity in intercollegiate athletics.
  The workshop, conducted April 11 and 12 in Kansas City, Missouri, primarily was attended by members of the NCAA Minority Opportunities and Interests Committee as well as members of the NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics.  In addition, two members of the NCAA Presidents Commission and representatives of the NCAA's management team and other staff members attended the workshop.
  One of the workshop's objectives was to enhance each participant's understanding of diversity and why it strengthens - rather than weakens - organizations.
  That message generally was well received, said Charles Whitcomb, chair of recreation/leisure studies and faculty athletics representative at San Jose State University and chair of the Minority Opportunities and Interests Committee, which organized the workshop.
  Harvey J. Coleman of the Atlanta-based Coleman Management Consultants and Ray C. Myers of Multiversity Associates of Minneapolis served as presenters for the workshop.
  "I think the program went very well," Whitcomb said.  "The consultants provided an atmosphere that was nonthreatening.  They did not single out any one particular group.  They also were very careful in getting everyone to participate.
  Kathleen M. McNally, assistant athletics director at La Salle University and a member of the Committee on Women's Athletics, said she found the workshop beneficial.  McNally said she did not take any particular expectations into the workshop.
  "I thought it was very, very productive," said McNally, who is senior woman administrator at La Salle. "One of my thoughts going in was that we need to start to deal with diversity for our coaches and student-athletes (at La Salle). We've changed out demographics.  We need to deal with this issue."
  The workshop so impressed David G. Carter, president of Eastern Connecticut State University and a member of the Presidents Commission, that he offered his campus as a host of a NCAA diversity-training workshop.  Anthony J. DiGiorgio, president of Winthrop University, was the other member of the Presidents Commission who attended.
  "I am so enthusiastic about it," said Carter, who is chair of the Presidents Commission Subcommittee on Minority Affairs. "I would like to volunteer Eastern as a site.  That is how pleased I was."

Checking the scripts

  One of the fundamental goals of the pilot diversity-training workshop was to prompt participants to evaluate and recognize the set of biases, prejudices and stereotypes that each individual carries. For many, these "scripts" of attitudes and beliefs contain a life's worth of images that can affect the hiring and promotion of people who visually are different or who demonstrate characteristics that are unlike those of people who make hiring and promotion decisions.
  One exercise the consultants used in helping people begin to evaluate others from a clean script was to ask participants to list stereotypes that exist about various groups.
  "They were trying to help us identify what scripts we have in life," Whitcomb said. "They tried to get us to see how these scripts get in our way."
  "This was an exercise that you can use immediately," McNally said. "It is a little bit easier said than done, however."
  "Challenging one's assumptions and stereotypes is what education is all about,"

said Claire L. Gaudiani, president of Connecticut College and Division III chair of the Presidents Commission. "The challenge is not to make decisions on the basis of one's assumptions or stereotypes."
    Gaudiani did not attend the pilot diversity-training workshop, but said that similar seminars have been conducted on her campus. She said that diversity training does not and should not involve attacking people or exposing them before others.
  "(Diversity) challenges people with good-will to look at themselves," Gaudiani said. "This is how we become better.  It helps to give (a person) a broader perspective, less narrow frames of reference."
  Still, creating an awareness of and maintaining an understanding of diversity cannot be accomplished in a two-day meeting.  Attitudes, values and beliefs constantly must be challenged in each individual so that an appreciation of differences between one's self and another person can be evaluated without bias.
  "This is an ongoing process," Gaudiani said. "It's learning to listen well to what your colleagues of different backgrounds are telling you.  This is a process, not an event."
  "It's a slow process," McNally said. "But I think it is going to be extremely useful. It has got to hit all levels (of athletics_. You could defeat the purpose if you shut out a particular group."
  Whitcomb said one key to achieving real change through diversity-training workshops is for participants to learn not to depend on others for answers and solutions to achieving greater diversity on campuses or in conference offices.
  "People should come into the workshop with a blank sheet," Whitcomb said. "You never know what agendas people come in with. The consultants did not give prescriptions for change...
  "Most individuals look at this and say, 'Tell me how to go make it better.' The challenge  really is to assess ourselves and our attitudes, assess our own scripts. We need to assess those things that we think and do consciously and unconsciously."
  Carter and Gaudiani said they are optimistic that diversity-training workshops in athletics can serve as a catalyst for American society. The key, they say, will be to get everyone involved - from presidents to athletics directors to student-athletes.
  "I think you should have students involved," Carter said. "I believe," Carter said. "I believe the mix last week was a very good mix. Having a cross-section makes a lot of sense."
  Gaudiani and Carter believe that approaches such as the NCAA Fellows Program and the concept of a National Girls Sports Days - which the Presidents Commission endorsed at its March 31-April 1 meeting (see April 13 issue of The NCAA News) - are ways to begin to lay the foundation for more diversity in intercollegiate athletics.
  "We are saying that there are a variety of programs that we can bring about that we only have given lip service to in previous years," Carter said. "It's a four-letter word - work. But we can make it happen. I'm locked in. There is no way to go but forward."
  "We've got to make a pipeline for women and minorities," Gaudiani said. "If we really want to solve the problem, we have to develop a pipeline. (Creating) legislation is not the only way."