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Diversity & Inclusion: Fostering a Welcoming Environment Means Getting to Know People for More Than What You Outwardly See
Chad Cooper of Drexel, a Jewish member of the LGBTQ+ community, experiences microaggressions on a regular basis.
by Brandon Jones – CoSIDA Intern @therealbj99
As an SID that is a member of the LGBTQ+ community, Drexel Assistant Athletic Director of Communications Chad Cooper plays a pivotal role in the Sports Information industry. The primary contact for Dragon women’s soccer, basketball, squash, and rowing is heavily involved in the industry’s diversity & inclusion efforts.
“My personal feelings are that some of the biggest things that can be done are to recognize that you have an implicit bias, understand that language and terminology is always evolving, and be intentional when you say you want to foster a climate that welcomes diversity and inclusion,” Cooper said.
Cooper adds a unique perspective to diversity & inclusion as a member of the Jewish community as well.
“I’m in a unique situation because the types of diversity I have within me aren’t outwardly visible, which both makes me lucky, but also leaves me open to people making judgments about me because they think we are the same, which has led to a lot of microaggressions,” he added.
Cooper recounted the multiple cases of microaggressions that he has been subjected to as a result of the lack of outward visibility.
“A lot of people see my wedding ring and rather than ask generically about my spouse, which would allow me to let the person know who I’m married to, I’ll get asked what my wife does for a living,” Cooper explained. “Then, when I mention that my husband works for a grocery store, there’s often a look of shame on the person’s face because they’re now on the defensive because they realized they made an assumption.”
The microaggressions and challenges don’t stop there.
“Another example is asking off for a religious holiday that differs from the rest of the department,” Cooper added. “It’s never been met with ‘no, you can’t have that day off,’ but when you’re asked multiple times leading up to the date, ‘what day are you going to be off again?’ Especially by the same person/people, it tends to start to come across as ‘what day am I going to be inconvenienced because of something I didn’t bother to write down or learn about because it doesn’t apply to me?’”
“[People also ask] what my plans are for Christmas. Both of these have happened to me on multiple occasions, in minor league baseball and college athletics.”
Cooper also provided some advice for those who make these type of microaggressions without any realization.
“What it boils down to is just be consciously active in your mindset and realize that not everyone, even if they look like you, has the same background as you,” he said. “You’re probably not going to flip a switch overnight, but use it as a starting point. Recognize you’re not going to be perfect – I’m certainly not, nor do I think I am -- acknowledge that, and do your absolute best to learn from it.”
Among Cooper’s contributions for diversity & inclusion in the industry is co-leading an initiative for more gender-inclusive language in the Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC).
“There were several steps, including speaking to MAC as well as the other SIDs in the conference,” he said. “Working with two other SIDs, we came up with a plan that was nearly unanimously approved at the June 2020 virtual communications meeting. Included in them were changing the term freshman to first year, putting a place for incoming student-athletes to list their personal pronouns, and making minor adjustments to the league’s sportsmanship statement. So far, these are in year two of implementation and are still going strong.”
Cooper additionally attended the NCAA Common Ground IV and V, and inclusion forum events.
“Attending Common Ground was, in a word, transformative,” he explained. “The Common Ground initiative was established in 2014 to provide LGBTQ individuals, individuals of faith at public and private NCAA member institutions, LGBTQ organizations and faith-based organizations an opportunity to discuss commonalities and differences and learn how to work more cohesively within athletics.”
“One thing Common Ground IV did was make me realize how much I assumed about other people. I always considered myself an open-minded individual, but after we completed one of the activities, I had to sit down because my muscles were contracting so much from the shame I felt when I realized how much I made assumptions about others based on appearance.”
“Common Ground V was just as eye opening, in part because of the different set of people involved. A lot of the activities were the same, but the different mix of people made it a unique experience.”
The conferences helped him look at things in a different way, prompting him to co-lead the gender-inclusive language initiative in the MAC. It also gave him the desire to speak with students about the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Cooper set some realistic goals for CoSIDA’s diversity & inclusion committee, which he is an active member of.
“I think that understanding that the field of athletic communications is changing and ever-evolving is a big step,” he said. “With that evolution means there are a lot more people with diverse backgrounds who can play a role in athletic communications; PR, graphic design, video, all of which are seeing growing numbers of individuals who come from different walks of life.”
That is where, Cooper believes, the committee can play a role.
“We already have a subcommittee on resources that does an AMAZING job of compiling and finding materials for people to be able to educate themselves on topics of Diversity and Inclusion,” he added. “Attend some of the programming sessions and forums that CoSIDA puts out on the website to learn. Most of us have some sort of professional development aspect as part of our goals. Use what CoSIDA and the Diversity and Inclusion Committee has to offer so you can work on reaching out to a more diverse population. It can only make your office stronger by having a wider pool of qualified people available to work with.”
What advice does he have to young professionals in the industry, particularly minorities and members of the LGBTQ+ community?
“Be you,” Cooper said. “That can mean different things and different levels of openness for different people because no one’s situation is the same, but give yourself a chance to be you. It doesn’t mean having a major, grand moment where you run out and say, ‘hey everyone, guess what!?’ I never did.”
“In fact, being this open and candid in a profile for an organization that has more than 3,000 members is the closest I’ve ever come to that. For a long time, I thought I could live my whole life separating my personal life from anything that anyone even remotely tied to my work would ever know. What I found is that living that dual life is much like partitioning off a hard drive on a computer – eventually running two separate systems becomes too taxing and chokes the machine to the point that neither side works well. Now, imagine that machine is your brain and body. I became much better as an SID and as a husband when I stopped trying to keep people from knowing who I am.”
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