Where's the Urgency? Examining Athletic Practitioners' Beliefs About Working With Diverse Student-Athletes

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 20
  In Roundtable Session: Critical Perspectives Across the Educational Pipeline

Abstract

As the college student population has diversified (Pryor et al., 2008), many graduate programs that train student affairs professionals have incorporated sociological concepts like how to work with diverse populations into the curriculum (Talbot, 2003). However, athletic departments often provide their own support staff for student-athletes who are commonly trained in sport-related graduate programs. Many of these programs fail to address issues like diversity, culture, or intergroup contact (Geisler, 2003). The purpose of the larger study was to explore how athletics practitioners who directly serve student-athletes approach working with diverse individuals. This paper uses interview data with student-facing athletics practitioners to explore how their beliefs about diversity might align with or justify the observed lack of urgency from institutions.

Authors

• Siduri J. Haslerig, The University of Oklahoma

• Laura Bernhard, Stanford University