Q & A: Vice Chancellor David Williams
Vice Chancellor for Athletics and University Affairs and Athletics Director David Williams II is committed to promoting diversity, equity and inclusion as well as integrating Commodore athletics into the Vanderbilt student life experience. Williams, an innovative leader, came to Vanderbilt in 2000 as vice chancellor, general counsel and secretary as well as a professor of law. He added athletics to his portfolio in 2003 and was named to his current position in 2012. Williams shared some insights in a Q&A session with the Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.
Under your leadership, athletics has worked to integrate Vanderbilt student-athletes into the student life experience. How is greater integration and inclusion beneficial to athletes and to the greater Vanderbilt community?
I was listening to an interview by former Vanderbilt basketball player Wade Baldwin, who is now with the Memphis Grizzlies. He left Vanderbilt after his sophomore year – one of the earliest kids to leave. He talked about one of his teammates on the Grizzlies and for him, that the athletes just hung with the athletes. He talked about how happy he was that he had gone to Vanderbilt where he was seen as a person, a student who happened to play a sport. I think that student-athletes appreciate the fact that we are working as hard as we can to make them well-rounded in all aspects. To make sure they are doing study abroad, getting an internship and earning a degree. That means something.
Your commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion is clear in the work you’ve done at Vanderbilt and in the larger community. How do you see Vanderbilt athletics and the institution overall changing in the years to come?
I think our profession has not been as open as it should be. I never thought that I would see the return of the 1960s. I went to college in the 60’s and thought that those days were over. I am seeing those days back. I went through a period of time where women’s rights, black power rights, get out of Vietnam rights and more started on college campuses. It takes a very special attitude to understand this too is part of education. I’m hoping that Vanderbilt will be a place that understands and from my vantage point, I see it coming.
You have created programs for athletes to travel more overseas and to study internationally. Tell us more about those programs.
When I was at Ohio State, I had the good fortune of getting to teach overseas. You learn a lot about yourself and other people. In 2003, we looked at our student-athletes and realized they don’t get to study abroad like other students. It is a great opportunity for growth and we wanted our student-athletes to experience that. As a result, we’ve organized an international service trips to Tanzania and Costa Rica as well as to Cuba. These have been eye-opening experiences for everybody.
In 2002, you were the vice chancellor of general counsel and secretary of Vanderbilt under then-Chancellor Gordon Gee, when Gee tried to rename Confederate Memorial Hall. Can you share some of your reflections on your experience with that case?
That was a very, very tough time as we were sued by the Daughters of the Confederacy. It challenges you to go back and think about the things that you’ve learned and what you believe and what other people do. Coming out of Detroit, my education on the Civil War was the North had won and the South had lost. That war was about slavery and I had a lot of people, including some Daughters of the Confederacy, who explained to me that it wasn’t about slavery, it was about states’ rights. The thing that was most interesting to me was, though we had a totally different view in most cases, we were able to remain friends. I had a better understanding of where they were coming from and they had a better understanding of where I was coming from.
What would you want Vanderbilt students, staff and faculty to know about athletics?
The thing I’m most proud of is that our student-athletes graduate at basically the same rate as the university. We make sure these students get an education in the broadest sense, including study abroad and internships. More than 47 percent of our student-athletes who graduated last May were accepted into graduate or professional school. Two years ago we had four student-athletes who were accepted into the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.