Cooper presided over the NCAA Student-Athlete Advisory Councils at WSU and UC Berkeley while working inside the system. He is now an activist for athletes’ rights who believes the NCAA and colleges have a systematic problem with how they handle charges of sexual assault and mental health problems. Additionally, he asserts that athletics are only important to colleges when they stand to lose money.
The problem, according to Cooper, is that colleges have procedures in place but make flimsy promises about safeguarding students and athletes. Although it is expected of universities to police themselves, they have an incentive to hide sexual assault. America is experiencing a self-regulation problem.
