Vanderbilt's Lee Helping Athletes Make a Difference

welcome to Bloomberg Business Week Radio. Thank you so much for being with us. Oh, thank you, thank you very much for having me. And I have to say congratulations on your appointment, and we do want to talk to you about your plans and hopes for sports at Vanderbilt. I've got to, though, ask you about what happened in Minneapolis. When you first heard about it, you saw the video with George Floyd, What did you think? Oh? Man, UM, I thought, what and what what a tragedy that could

have been and should have been avoided? And um, it was heart breaking. It was very difficult to watch. I will admit that I have not been able to watch all. I know it's seven or eight minutes long. I have not made it through that entire video. I mean I've seen I've seen clips, and um it's traumatizing. So I would say that, Um. I mean my reaction was the reaction of I think so many of us that, um,

it was unnecessary. It was unnecessary. And Candice, you know you have a responsibility as so many do to you know, young people who are ultimately in your care. You know you were catching them at an incredibly important and informative age. How do you take what's going on in the country and you think about your role being as important as it ever was, more important maybe than it ever was, as as you think about the young folks that that

you're trying to to counsel through all of this. We're all thinking about it as parents, I know, and and obviously you see it through a different lens than I do. I like how you phrase the question, because you're right then, um it is it is the care of our student

athletes that is our priority. And I think that in some ways, you know, you feel helpless when you see a situation like this and you you start wrapping your brain and you it stirs up a lot of emotions and then I start thinking about how not that I have a ton of experience, but if you if you imagine being a college student and trying to process that and makes sense of it, how intimidating and overwhelming that must be. And I think the thing that we have

to do is just start with transparency and opthenticity. Those are the things I talked with our student athletes about UM over the weekend, and same with our staff. You know, it's a it's a chance to to really be vulnerable

and wrestle with this together. I don't have all the answers, and I'm real clear about that, but I we want our student athletes to understand that we can provide them with a safe space to explore how they're feeling, and we want to equip them with I mean, it's it's it's hard to make sense of something that's just tragic.

It's hard to make sense of that. But what I hope is that our student athletes will feel like they can make a difference, Like if they're convicted about this topic or anything that they're passionate about, that they'll use their platform to really affect change and do it in a healthy way. The thing I think that many of us wrestle with for many people wrestle with when you're just so heartbroken over something and it's hard to understand

why people do certain things. How can you mobilize people to want to make a change, but but not be so frustrated that you paralyzed or you know, not have a hard heart and and and that's um I think that's a challenge for all of us. But I know that's a challenge when you're eighteen, nineteen, and twenty years old, and and you know, it's a privilege to be able to be with with with folks when they're developing their ideas and they're building a foundation. But it's also a

huge responsibility, you know, because they looked to us. You talked about the care, They looked us for that guidance, So you know, we need to do it in the most healthy and balanced way. Well, we've got about a minute and then we're going to come back and continue our conversation because I am also curious, Candida, and we do want to get into what your plans are at

Vanderbilt and your hopes and expectations. But I do wonder about what is the role and responsibility of sports as an activist and agent for change, especially coming off of the last few years Colin Kaepernack and you know, so many professional athletes who were who were I feel like UM reined in no doubt about it, or penalized for

kind of speaking out. So we're going to continue our conversation with us as Vanderbilt Athletic Director Candice Lee, she's joining us on the phone from Nashville, Tennessee, and so Jason will get back to that conversation. But it's been I think about some of the things that we've done that NBA, I'll Star Tech Summit and you know, being

at the Super Bowl. We've talked about this a lot and what the responsibility is for something, you know, whether it's sports or entertainment, in terms of being an agent for change. And I think being in Nashville is an important UH note to and it takes me back to what John Hope Bryant was saying about Atlanta, and you know, Nashville in many ways is a very similar city. It's

a boomtown. There's a huge amount of economic opportunity, and how do you ensure that you are sort of growing and caring for a generation of leaders who are willing, UH and enthusiastic to take all that one. We're going to get into that and much more in just a minute. Our guests at this hour is Vanderbilt athletic director Candice Lee.

She joins us on the phone from Nashville, Tennessee. We want to pivot, UH to your plans at Vanderbilt, But I have one last question, and I do wonder, Candice, what you think is the role and responsibility of sports professional or collegiate in terms of being an agent for change. Well, I think when you when you look at the athletics platform, Um, I saw I actually saw a tweet yesterday that and I'm sure I'm sure you all saw this or other

people are saying something similar. But it talked about if the world would treat each other the way people treat each other in a locker room, where they're folks from all walks of life and um different perspectives, what they're

working towards a common goal. And that really struck me because I think that when you when you look at athletics and you get on a team, I don't know that people are focused on race or geographical area or sexual orientation, or they're they're working together to try to win, right there, competing on the same team with a common goal. And when I think about that and all the opportunities

that have been created. Now, don't get me wrong, athletics has not been perfect in this space, so I'm certainly not saying that, but I do think that given the great widespread interests that there is an athletics and and the way that it allows you to cheer for the same thing without regard to those things that that that make us different, then I think it's kind of a natural thing to look at athletics in terms of leadership when it comes to opportunities and and to this equality

and fairness, because that's what sport is. Sport is about fairness and and and I I think you've got to be careful here because I know that that doesn't mean that every athlete as a social activist. I understand that. But the fact that sports is something that ties a lot of us together and brings people to common spaces and allows them to interact where these same people might not might not be together if if it were not

for a football game or soccer match. And I think that that shows us that sport has the ability to be far reaching. So I think with that there's expectations, right that maybe you can change people's minds or you can raise awareness about something. Well. In Candice, for all of those reasons that you just described, we are so collectively interested in seeing sports come back, especially college sports

come back. I grew up town South, have a lot of friends who went to Vanderbilt and other SEC schools, And there is nothing I don't have to tell you. There is nothing like SEC sports, and there's nothing like SEC college football. What's right? What's your best guess for for what we see this fall? I've been really intentional about about not trying to guess and tell you that we're preparing to come back in the fall as scheduled. And and I'm and I'm not trying to to dodge

your question. I think the reality is that this pandemic has taught us that, um, as much as we think we're in control of things, we're we're very vulnerable and and and that's humbling, especially in athletics, because you know, we're we're very focused, we're very regimented, we're very structured, and and I think there's a lot of humility that comes with knowing that you really don't know what the future holes. Having said that, I was on a call

earlier today and the point was made. I had not thought about this, But you know, we've been in this mode for you know, roughly ninety days. We still have a decent amount of time before we have to play our first football game, and and and time is is really important here because with each passing day and with each passing week, we learn a little bit more and with more data, you know, you feel armed to make better decisions. And I think that all of us desperately

want sports back. It's a rallying cry. It ties communities together. We all we all want something to cheer for. We all want to feel united, and sports is a great way to do that. And I just think we just have to be diligent about trying to resume activity in the safest way possible. You know. That's part of the care for the student athletes that you all were talking about earlier. That's part of it, right, It's fundamental their health and safety and the health and safety of our community.

So and um, it's challenging, right sure, well, And and Candice, it also feels like one of the challenges is going to be protecting so many of the sports beyond college football, given the economic headwinds that UH that athletic departments are going to face. I have to think you're thinking about that as well, given the upside down world we're living in potentially. And I'm not asking you to guess about this.

You know, if we have you know, spectator list games, how are you sort of thinking about different ways that you can ensure that many UH cauge college athletes still get a chance to to play at a time when a lot of schools or canceling programs. You're right, we're very, very dependent on the revenue that's tied to football. There's

no question about that. There's no debating that. I think that you have to look at each individual situation in terms of like how much particular athletics department depends on revenue that's tied to tickets or concessions or you know, it varies by institution. What doesn't vary, though, is that we all need football. We all we all need it to It's the financial engine that drives everything, you know,

and that's that's just the way that it's structured. We don't currently have we have no plans to discontinue any of our sports. But you know, when I get asked about all the different models that we're looking at, I don't know if any of us are looking at a model that includes no football at all, because that you don't really need to sketch that out right, because the

outcomes are pretty grim there. But I think it is an opportunity for us to creatively think about how do we how do we how do we try to get to whatever normal is in the safest way possible. But we're it's an understatement to say that we have to be flexible. You know, we all keep talking about the new normal, but there's there's not going to be anything normal about the next few months. That is so true. Hey, listen, we just have about a minute left here. You know,

you come to this very familiar with Vanderbilt. You were students there, you're an athlete there. Um, what do you think that how does that help you in this in this job? I think there, I think it's it's it's clear that the relationships that I have and the awareness about the landscape and who we are as an institution and and how we get things done, that's very very helpful.

But I want to be clear that, um, just because I've been at Vanderbilt and just because I've been a student athlete there, I don't come in thinking that I have all of the answers. And I think that that that that would not be a healthy way to approach it, because as there are still many things that you have to learn from the seat. Right, you can do, you can, you can do everything sort of around it, but until you sit in the seat, there are certain things that

you haven't had to contemplate. And I actually think that that's refreshing, because you know, one could look at being at the same institution um as as perhaps the challenge because you don't you don't have the diversity of experiences in other places. Right. I've been really fortunate to have um a network of folks that are all over the country that I've always happened to, so I could make sure that I'm learning and understanding, and I think that

that's going to be really helpful here. But there's no doubt having been at Vanderbilt, it's a it's a positive. Right, Well, we wish you well, Vanderbilt's athletic director can as Late