7:45 a.m.                    Webcast Access Join Day One Webinar

8:15 a.m.                    Welcome: UMKC Law School Dean Barbara Glesner Fines

8:30 - 10:00 a.m.        Race Norming and Sports Concussion Litigation including NFL Concussion Settlement & Claims Process

Professor Kenneth D. Ferguson, the panel moderator, will be joined by panelists Professor Tracie Canada, Ph.D. Sandi Isaacson, Ph.D., and attorneys J.R. Wyatt, J.D., and Cy Smith, J.D. for a discussion of the Further Implication of Race Norming and Sports Concussion Litigation including NFL Concussion Settlement & Claims Process. Panel discussions will no doubt begin with the NFL Concussion Settlement which became final and effective on January 7, 2017. Although hailed as a “historic settlement” because it was uncapped and included more than 12,000 retired NFL players, the settlement was marred with an unacceptable flaw. The Settlement implemented a formula (i.e., race-norming) that discriminated against Black retired players. In effect, Black retired players were treated as having worse cognitive functioning than White players (in their pre-morbid stage). As a result, if a Black player and a White player receive the exact same score on a battery of neurocognitive tests, the Black player is automatically assumed to have suffered less impairment, and therefore often does not qualify for monetary compensation.

Seeing the obvious injustice, two of our panelists,  and several law firms led by Cy Smith and J.R. Wyatt, launched an attack against the NFL and the Settlement, seeking to remove race-norming.  They were successful and the Settlement was modified to remove race-norming. However, Professor Tracie Canada, Ph.D., a sports anthropologist, and pioneering research demonstrates the premise upon which race norming depends is “the belief that race is a binary, biological concept, and therefore that differences in Black bodies and minds are not only existent but quantifiable. But they’re wrong on all accounts: race norming is an inherently anti-Black form of scientific racism that is evidence of slavery’s afterlife.”

Neuropsychologist Sandi Isaacson, Ph.D., will give a brief overview of the complex role of demographic “norms” in psychological testing from their use in equalizing access to educational opportunities to adversely affecting players in the current NFL settlement.

10:00-10:15 a.m.        Break

10:15- 11:45 a.m.    The Intersection of Race & Gender Mental Health of Professionals & Collegiate Athletes

Moderator: Dr. U. Diane Buckingham, M.D.

Join Moderator Dr. U. Diane Buckingham and panelists Melissa Lewis, Ph.D., Dr. Meg Gibson, M.D., and Dr. Jannette Berkley-Patton, Ph.D. for a discussion of the intersection of race, gender, and cultural issues in diagnosing and treating patients experiencing mental health conditions.  It is important to discuss the role of racism and misogyny in sports. In sports, vulnerable and targeted populations have a very different experience in these environments than those in privileged populations. It may be important to note this history and the increased work that has been done recently towards equity in some sports and how that may lead to improved mental health and accessibility to some sports that were/are not always welcoming to ethnic and racial minorities. Mental health professionals who consider issues surrounding culture, race, and gender may be crucial to delivering effective mental health services to professional and collegiate athletes enabling them to improve their adaptative responses to stressors and educating professional and collegiate coaches and their professional staff on meeting the needs of their athletes.  While therapy is important, dismantling the oppressive organizations and systems that cause mental health stress for diverse athletes is a critical first step.

11:45- 12:15 p.m.      Lunch Break on your own

12:15- 1:00 p.m.        KEYNOTE SPEAKER: Deron Cherry, Kansas City.

1:00-2:30 p.m.           Race Norming in Medical Treatment & Clinical Diagnostics and its Impacts.

Moderator: Valerie E. Chow, M.D.

The panel moderator, Dr. Valerie E. Chow, along with panelists  Kristin Kaplan,  J.D., Shook Hardy & Bacon and Dr. Bridgette Jones, Associate Professor of Pediatrics, University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine will discuss Race Norming in Medical Treatment & Clinical Diagnostics.  Panelists will examine whether the neuropsychological field (relied on by the NFL) is not alone in applying different standards to black and brown persons, women, and other cultural groups.  The panelists will explore the prevalence of race norming in other fields, including clinical research,  medicine, and medical clinical diagnostics and treatment, and its impacts on the availability of medical treatments and differences in standards of care for Blacks and other people of color. 

2:30 – 2:45 p.m.         Break

2:45-4:00 p.m.           The Intersection of Race and Gender in Professional Sports Hiring

Moderator: Professor Mikah Thompson, J.D.

The panel moderator, Professor Mikah Thompson, along with panelists  Professor Jerimi Duru, Jennifer Hunter, Esq. (Sr. Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) for the Portland Trail Blazers, Dr. C. Keith Harrison, Ed.D., and Dr. Vincent Key  will discuss issues surrounding the Intersection of Race and Gender in Professional Sports Hiring.  Panelists will examine whether Women, Blacks and other minorities are losing ground in professional sports employment, whether the current status quo reflects trends toward greater diversity or a process of reversal. 

Professor Jerimi Duru’s discussion will focus on the lawsuit filed by Brian Flores, former Mimi Dolphins’ head coach against the NFL and three other NFL clubs. After his termination by the Dolphins Brian Flores was subjected to a sham interview with the New York Giants.   Over twenty years earlier, threatened litigation prompted the NFL to institute several equal opportunity initiatives – including the controversial Rooney Rule – and these initiatives seemed to promote diversity in head coach and general manager hiring.  Flores’ lawsuit, however, indicates legal scrutiny may be necessary to push the NFL toward true equal opportunity. 

Sr. Director of DEI for the Portland Trail Blazers, Jennifer Hunter, J.D. will enlighten us on NBA’s history of and continued leadership in hiring of minorities and women in professional sports and what other organizations may learn from the NBA’s success.

Dr Harrison will expound on his work as the principal investigator of the NFL'S annual good business, occupational mobility report on the hiring process and best practices for inclusive hires in terms of race and gender intersections. Harrison has co authored these empirical studies with Scott Bukstein from 2012-Present. 

4:00 p.m.                    Adjourn

8:00 a.m.                    Webcast access Join Day Two Webinar

8:30-10:00 a.m.          The Intersection of Race and Gender in Collegiate Sports Hiring

Moderator: Dr. Raymond Doswell, Ed.D.

The moderator of the symposium panel titled “The Intersection of Race and Gender in Collegiate Sports Hiring,” Dr. Raymond Doswell, PhD., will be joined by panelists Dr. Brandon Martin, Ed.D., Jeffri Chadiha is a senior columnist and an on-air personality for the NFL Network and NFL.com., and Dr. C. Keith Harrison, Ed.D., Head/Chief Academic Officer, and Professor for the DeVos Sport Business Management Graduate Program and founding director (2006-14) of The Minor that’s Major™ Sport Business Management Undergraduate Program.

Dr. Harrison will discuss nearly three decades of research on the intersectionality of race and gender with the hiring process and practices of collegiate head football coaches and related leadership positions. From 2003-2009, Harrison was the first principal investigator of the BCA Hiring Report Cards supported by the NCAA--grading over 85 percent of American higher education institutions with athletic departments at the Power 5, Group of 5, FBS, and FCS levels.

According to Jeffri Chadiha, the lack of diversity among football coaches and athletic directors is a huge issue as we move into an era where players can be compensated and schools can move so freely from conference to conference in the pursuit of bigger paydays. As much as we focus on the money, we’re also paying less attention to how these young people fit into this new world and all the hazards that can come with being your own brand. We need people in place who understand their challenges, especially because football is driving so much change on the college landscape.

Dr. Brandon E. Martin, has nothing but praise for the leadership of Chancellor C. Mauli Agrawal UMKC’s Chancellor and UMKC for embracing diversity, initiating programs that may serve as a model for promoting the growth, development, and elevation of Black and other underrepresented minorities to leadership positions both in athletics administration, and administrative and other leadership roles throughout the educational enterprise.  Dr. Martin also discusses how his work as Co-Chair for the Black AD Alliance is promoting the growth, development, and elevation of Black athletics administrators at the Division I level.

10:00-10:15 a.m.        Break

10:15 – 11:45 a.m.     Will Race and Gender Effect which Student Athletes Profit from their Name, Image, and Likeness?

The panel moderator, Greg Cotton, J.D. along with panelists  Professor Kenneth L. Lewis, Jr., Marc Edelman, and Professor David Grenardo will discuss the extent to which race and gender will affect which student-athletes profit from their NIL.  Panelists will examine the effect of both the pre-and post-NIL era on ethnic minority athletes and what Professor Edelman called the Reverse Robinhood arrangement where NCAA takes fruits from the labor of largely low-income/minority sports and devotes them toward country club sports.

According to Professor Edelman, oftentimes, there is a perception that the conservative interest in free markets and the liberal interest in social justice conflict with one another.  However, in the case of the college athletes' rights movement, recent efforts to increase free markets for college-athlete labor have yielded meaningful social-justice benefits for society.  This talk will explain how the eradication of certain restraints on college athlete labor markets has led to more just outcomes for low-income, minority, and female college athletes. As such, the article suggests that conservative and liberal interests should go hand-in-hand in promoting the free market for college athlete labor.

According to Professor David Grenardo, based on available data Males are ahead of females in NIL deals. Some of the NIL deals for females appear to be based on the further objectification of women. Black female athletes may not get their due because of America’s perception of them as less marketable than the White girl next door.

Male athletes, including Blacks, are reaping the rewards of NIL deals, particularly in football and basketball. America is okay with Black male athletes as spokespeople, which we have seen with professional athletes. Athletes in non-revenue generating sports are getting NIL deals, but the NIL deals are providing some (but certainly not all) equity for athletes who help generate substantial revenue in college football and men’s basketball. Those revenue-generating sports are comprised of many Black athletes, some of whom come from abject poverty.  

Finally, Professor Grenardo believes Pay-for-play by schools or conferences is coming soon based on NIL’s acceptance. Collectives may help usher in pay-for-play by schools or conferences.

According to Professor Kenneth L. Lewis, Jr., it is important that colleges and universities implement comprehensive programs to provide information regarding NIL to ensure inclusion and equity.  Furthermore, Professor Lewis will discuss the impact of NIL rules on the recruiting process and HBCUs in particular.  Finally, he will discuss how NIL rules impact immigrants/foreign students who have been recruited to attend college in the United States.

11:45 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.        Lunch break on your own

12:15 - 1:00 p.m.       KEYNOTE SPEAKER:  Dr. Keith Harrison, Ed.D.

In his presentation tilted "The Arc of Hiring, Firing and Rehiring: Trends, Patterns and the Future of Occupational Mobility Opportunities in College and Pro Sport", Dr. Harrison will summarize the historical and contemporary benchmarks plus barriers in the NFL and collegiate athletics landscape of American higher education.

1:00-1:15 p.m.           Break

Moderator: Professor Kenneth Ferguson, J.D.

Professor Ferguson, the panel moderator, will be joined by the world-renowned neuropathologist and director of the Brain Banks for the Boston University Alzheimer’s Disease Center, Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy, Framingham Heart Study, and Centenarian Study, Dr. Ann McKee, M.D.  Dr. McKee will not only help clarify just what CTE is, she will also discuss the moral and ethical responsibility of sports league stakeholders to do more to help the young men and women (and their families) while living as they are often unwitting victims of this potentially devastating brain disease.  As Dr. McKee has said in recent public interviews, sports league operators must, at a minimum,  begin to institutionalize early detection, counseling and pharmacologic treatment for athletes manifesting behaviors that correlate with progressive degrees of CTE. 

Panelists will also include Cyndy Childs, the wife of former NFL player Henry Childs who died of a sudden heart attack and confirmed to have had CTE through a postmortem autopsy. Cyndy will be joined on the panel by Henry’s and her son, Henri Childs.  Both Cyndy and Henri watched Henry’s progressive decline before he died.  They will talk to us about their personal and family experience as Henry experience personality changes resulting from Henry’s functional impairment resulting from repeated blows to the head during his NFL career.

David Langfitt is no stranger to the NFL Concussion Settlement litigation and functional impairments suffered by former NFL players. Mr. Langfitt currently spends most of his time focusing on large-scale catastrophic personal injury litigation involving both the National Football League and NCAA as defendants. He served on the Court-appointed Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee in the NFL Concussion Litigation and Settlement, which has become increasingly troublesome for claimant/players based on the resistance of the NFL to pay claims.

2:30 p.m.         Adjourn