Kent State Victories, Fundraising, and Title IX

I read an article yesterday on the success of Kent State University sports, in terms of both results and fundraising.  The article described the success as follows:

Golden Flashes baseball advanced to the College World Series, [men's] golf finished tied for fifth in the nation, wrestling was ranked at No. 13 in the nation, men’s basketball topped 20 wins for the 13th time in the last 14 seasons, and the football team is going to a bowl game for the first time in 40 years.

Those teams not only carried the Kent State brand into the national spotlight, but they helped athletic director Joel Nielsen generate over $3.5-million in fundraising for Kent football and baseball alone, most of it over the past 12 months. Fundraising for the other programs remains high as well.

As I read this piece, I wondered about women’s sports as all the above sports involve male athletes. The article did mention both the men’s and women’s golf teams flying around the country to compete, and it did note the renovation of the men’s and women’s basketball offices.  However, the focus of the piece was on football, wrestling, and baseball, sports with no female counterparts that would naturally share the wealth.  Thus, I wonder how the donations the successful men’s sports garner are being distributed so as to fulfill the demands of Title IX.   Nielsen talks of using fundraising to enhance the football program:

“When we arrived, we talked a lot about what it would take to have football success,” Nielsen said. “One of the things we looked at was that we were poorly resourced in football, primarily with our people. President (Lester) Lefton gave us the green light to go out there and talk to football donors, talk to people who wanted to see football be successful. We had about 20 people step up that first year, some significantly. That allowed us to pay some competitive salaries.

I wonder how the school has gone about maintaining equity with women’s sports.  I jokingly wonder if the solution might be found in today’s piece on April Goss a walk-on kicker for the football team.  If she is going to the bowl game and dresses with the rest of the team, that could make it so the football team is no longer a men’s sport but a co-ed sport. But I do not think that really works for Title IX.

 

 

College Football Ambitions: Title IX?

Many universities are moving their football teams up to the highest level of NCAA competition.  A New York Times article by Bill Pennington looks at the motivations and the pitfalls.  Generally speaking there is not much hope of a monetary reward as most programs lose money, but there is a hope of a higher profile in the state, the region, and nationally.  For example Old Dominion University’s Division I football team is intended to elevate the school to the same level (football-wise) as Virginia Tech and the University of Virginia in the state, and SUNY Buffalo has had out of state applications increase since becoming a Division I program.

The article focuses on the University of Massachusetts that moved up this last year, a move that involved playing games far from campus at Gillette Stadium, games that attracted few fans.  The idea may be that this move elevates UMass to the same level as already Division I UConn in New England.

A Nearly Empty Gillette Stadium hosts a UMass game (Erik Jacob, New York Times)

I wonder about the Title IX implications of all this investment, something the Times article does not mention.  The costs of the equipment, coaches, and scholarships involved are immense, and if they are all going to a men’s sport, does that not raise equality issues?  For UMass if they are getting a big stadium for the men’s sport and busing fans there, should not funds be available for a sweet softball venue on campus or the rental of Fenway Park and the provision of buses?  On a more realistic level, if a football team has a coach for every position (running back, quarterback, linebacker, etc.) as well as coordinators and quality control staff, then should not the field hockey team have a similar roster of position specific coaches?

I know that football is unique in that it is the sport an institution can use to show that it is a big time school, and no women’s sport has that impact.  So, there cannot be a way to get equal attention and hype, but at least the move up can be a chance to leverage funding.

Annoying Nationalism in NCAA Cross Country Coverage

Here is an excerpts from  the blurb from the site Letsrun.com (one of the most popular running news sites) on the NCAA men’s championships today:

 OSU was led by Girma Mecheso who was the top American in fifth … The top American born runner was Wisco’s Maverick Darling in 11th – some 59+ seconds behind the winner.

 

It annoys me no end to see that Letsrun distinguishes between American and American born in writing this blurb.  In some ways it implies that Ethiopian born American Mecheso is less of an American.  It also implies that darn it the American running community is falling down on the job in terms of developing talent and is just relying on imports.  What is wrong with many of the top American runners (Bernard Lagat, Meb Kiflezghi, etc.)  being born in Africa?  I hope that this focus is not tied into some misguided belief that for distance running to become a bigger deal on the American sports scene we need to find a “great American born hope” a goal that is perilously close to finding a “great white hope.”

Girma Mecheso running for Oklahoma State University

 

Appeals Court Overturns Michigan Affirmative Action Ban

A federal appeals court struck down Michigan’s ban on considering race in college admissions.  The reasoning was based on the equal protection clause particularly the fact that those who wanted special consideration for race now had a much harder time advocating for their cause (pushing for a state constitutional amendment) than those who wanted special consideration for their status as offspring of alumni.

To quote the decision:

“A student seeking to have her family’s alumni connections considered in her application to one of Michigan’s esteemed public universities could do one of four things to have the school adopt a legacy-conscious admissions policy: she could lobby the admissions committee, she could petition the leadership of the university, she could seek to influence the school’s governing board, or, as a measure of last resort, she could initiate a statewide campaign to alter the state’s constitution. The same cannot be said for a black student seeking the adoption of a constitutionally permissible race-conscious admissions policy. That student could do only one thing to effect change: she could attempt to amend the Michigan Constitution—a lengthy, expensive, and arduous process—to repeal the consequences of Proposal 2. The existence of such a comparative structural burden undermines the Equal Protection Clause’s guarantee that all citizens ought to have equal access to the tools of political change.”

I am not sure what this ruling means as the Supreme Court will have  the last word anyway.  However, I am interested in the reductionist summary of the argument I saw in the Detroit Free Press and other sources.  This summary assumes the person pursuing legacy benefit is white.  However, that insertion inaccurately makes this issue one of black vs. white. In fact a black student advocating for special treatment due to legacy status has the same advantage over a black student arguing for special treatment due to race as a white student arguing for legacy status.

“The appeals court said the state ban on affirmative action violated the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution by making it more difficult for a minority student to get a university to adopt a race-conscious admissions policy than for a white student to get a university to adopt an admissions policy that considers family alumni connections” (from the Detroit Free Press emphasis added).

Blackface Follies: Duke Women’s Lacrosse

It is one thing when someone puts on a racist Halloween costume, takes pictures and posts them to Facebook.  It is another thing entirely when a player on the Duke University woman’s lacrosse team puts on blackface when going to a Little Rascals themed party as Buckwheat and the photo is posted on the school website.  Think about how many people had to make bad decisions here: the student, the coach who hosted the party, the photographer, the rest of the team who did not intervene, the sports information people managing the website, etc.  The photo has been taken down and there have been the requisite apologies, but how did it get up there to begin with?

Screenshot of Duke website (from Deadspin). Note the individual on the far right of the photo.

 

Here is a passage from junior Emma Tuci’s blog from the team’s official website describing how the costume was part of a team contest:

“Next up were the reigning champions: the juniors. We decided to get super original and bring back an old school classic: “The Little Rascals.” Honestly, it could pass as being one of my favorite movies. I want Buckwheat to be my best friend. We had the whole crew walk into Kerstin’s and performed a skit. Maddy Morrissey was Alfalfa, Sophia Sourlis was sassy Darla,Tara Stokes was Porky, Taylor Virden was Buckwheat, Molly Quirke was Froggy, I was the eight-year-old bully and Sydney Peterson was Spanky. I swear we all could have passed as little boys. We came in second place, which I guess I can live with … If you haven’t seen the movie, I highly recommend watching it otaaayyy!’

Since this blog is still up and does not really show an understanding of the stereotypical nature of the Buckwheat character, perhaps a bit more work could be done on the university’s part.

 

 

Spelman Cutting all Interscholastic Sports: A Promising Financial Model?

Spelman College is dropping all interscholastic sports and putting the money towards campus wide fitness programming.  The reasoning is eminently reasonable in that the school spends thousands of dollars for its NCAA Division III in which 80 students participates.  That money can be redistributed to promote the health of the student body as a whole. In addition facilities like the gym and weight room will be more easily accessible as they will not be reserved for teams at various times.  Beverly Tatum the president of the college notes, “we know that we have students who are already struggling with hypertension, already struggling with Type 2 diabetes, et cetera” and the shift to fitness programming will help those individuals.  One could say that this analysis relies on a false dichotomy in that a school can have both programs, wellness and interscholastic sports, but in an age of declining budgets this choice does appear reasonable.  It also gets back to the root goals of sports programs at educational institutions, establishing a sense of community and promoting wellness.  One need not travel and compete against other schools to achieve these goals.

In diversity terms, the fact that Spelman is a women’s college may play into this decision in that there may be less resistance from alumnae then there would be at a school where cutting sports meant cutting the homecoming football game.   Also, the fact Spelman is an HBCU may make this approach a model for other HBCUs both in terms of addressing financial difficulties and in terms of addressing issues of health within the African American community.  In fact, I hope this approach becomes a model for many schools with budget issues regardless of enrollment demographics.  If sports programs are losing money, why not cut them, focus on educational priorities, and, heaven forbid, stem tuition increases.

The Spelman cross-country team at their last meet this season, the school’s last meet ever.

The Dangers of Twitter and the Ethics of Investigation

The website Jezebel.com identified teenage tweeters who posted racist comments after Obama’s re-election.  Then the writer reached out to the schools the tweeters attended to inquire as to whether students violated school codes of conduct and what actions were being taken.  When I first read the piece, I thought that as a form of activism the actions taken were justified.  There was a sort of vindictive tone to the piece, but the students did post offensive material in a public forum so there is something to be said for their receiving real world feedback (with appropriate consideration of first amendment rights).  After I read a piece on Slate by Katy Waldman, I gave the issue a second thought.  Was it really fair to “rat out” those kids?  Was it fair to damage their reputations and even, heaven forbid the kids “chances at, say, getting into a decent college”?  My answer would be, yes.  Out in the world beyond one’s teenage years, what one does on social media can have a big impact–say, getting one fired.    A misguided tweet will not destroy a kid’s future; appropriate contrition, some targeted service learning, and the situation can be packaged as a learning experience.  However, the habit of spouting off in an anti-social fashion could be disastrous  and Jezebel is doing their part to help break students of this habit.

One of the more mild tweets in question…

Food Fight: Israeli Mezze Station at Harvard

The Israeli Mezze Station at Harvard provoked outrage on the part of observers for promoting culinary imperialism by labeling foods Israeli that are in fact mostly Arab.

Here is a photo of the offending list of foods:

 

Harvard graduate Sara El-Yafi posted on her Facebook page an extensive breakdown of how the foods are not Israeli.  I have copied her research below and it is quite thorough and does prove that  the foods did not originate in the state of Israel.  Thus, I understand how on one level the menu is offensive as an appropriation of food traditions.  On the other hand, if the menu is taken as providing foods eaten in Israel if not originating there then it makes sense.  Perhaps the best idea is the one El-Yafi proposes, changing the title of the food station to “Middle-Eastern” or “Mediterranean.”

1. Harissa (هريسة) is a Tunisian and Libyan hot chili sauce whose main ingredient is piri piri. Piri piri grows in the wild in Africa. –> Since Israel is not in Africa, Harissa is not Israeli.

2. Couscous (كسكس) is a Maghrebian dish, a staple food throughout Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, and Libya. Not Israeli. As for “Israeli couscous”, the real name is “Maftoul” (مفتول), which is a Palestinian dish of Couscous.

3. Fattūsh (فتوش) is a word made of Arabic fatt “crush” and the suffix of Turkic origin -ūsh. Coining words this way was common in Syrian Arabic as well as in other dialects of Arabic. –> Unless Israel’s main language is Arabic, this too is NOT Israeli.

4. Halloumi (χαλούμι) is a Cypriot semi-hard, unripened brined cheese made from a mixture of goats’ and sheep milk. It’s not even ARABIC. So seriously, your “fuck-you” is not even centered around Arabs, it’s going west. –> Until Cyprus becomes another conquered Israeli territory, Halloumi is considered NOT Israeli.

5. Hummus (حُمُّص): Let’s get to the bottom of this once and for all. Hummus is an Arabic word meaning “chickpeas.” Ok? It is an Arabic word. As far as “Israelis” are concerned, they don’t speak Arabic. So unless you change your primary language, you have no argument here. The earliest documented recipe for something similar to modern hummus dates to 13th Century (CE) Egypt. –> Since Israel was created in 1948, Israel is NOT 13th CENTURY EGYPT! And Hummus is therefore NOT ISRAELI.

6. Tahini (طحينه): ONE: Tahini is a loanword from Arabic: طحينة, or more accurately ṭaḥīnīa طحينية, and is derived from the root ط ح ن Ṭ-Ḥ-N which as a verb طحن ṭaḥan which means “to grind.” TWO: You can only make Hummus with Tahini, since it is the second main ingredient. –> As per the argument of Hummus, we conclude that Tahini is NOT Israeli.

7. Zaatar (زَعْتَر): Alright. Zaatar is THYME. It is a Middle-Eastern plant. It grows in Palestine and other land areas. Since Israel is modern-day Palestine, then I can see why you would like to make that plant Israeli. And you might be able to get away with it. But get this: Zaatar is an Arabic word. So, to make your argument more solid, why don’t you use a Hebrew word for it? Like “שקר”, which is hebrew for LIE.

8. Mezze (in the title): This word (which refers to a selection of small dishes) comes from the Turkish meze ‘taste, flavour, snack, relish’, borrowed from Persian مزه (maze ‘taste, snack’ < mazīdan ‘to taste’) and/or the Greek version mezés (μεζές). SO TURKISH, PERSIAN and GREEK –> NOT ISRAELI.

9. “Sweet & Sour”: This draws the f*ckin limit. Now this sure isn’t Arabic, but I would like to see Chinatown respond to this.

 

 

 

Asian-American’s and Affirmative Action

I read Ethan Bronner’s New York Times piece “Asian Americans in the Argument” regarding the role Asian-Americans play in the debate over affirmative action.  The article for the most part rehashes information about the current Supreme Court case and the voices on both sides.  However, the author’s own opinion clearly shines through in the last two paragraphs:

More important, some argue, Asian-Americans themselves benefit from the campus diversity the system produces. Schools where admission is purely through a test, like the elite public New York City high school Stuyvesant, often have large percentages of Asian-Americans. The University of California at Berkeley and Los Angeles are more than half Asian. That doesn’t help them integrate effectively, to pierce what some call the bamboo ceiling in the corporate and political worlds.

“I fear that if affirmative action is overthrown by the Supreme Court, our elite campuses will look like U.C.L.A. and Berkeley,” Mr. Burgarin said. “That wouldn’t be good for Asians or for anyone else.” 

While the penultimate paragraph does contain at the start the phrase “some argue” it appears that the author agrees with the idea that majority Asian schools (the result of purely test based admission) are bad for Asians themselves.  I wonder what the evidence is for this assertion.  The author would have done well to allude to studies of graduates from institutions of this sort and found negative outcomes when it comes to moving up the career ladder, economic success or political attainment?  Also, is the purpose of education to integrate with the dominant sometimes majority culture? That may be the goal in some cases, but what about Historically Black Colleges and Universities?

The last quotation then works on an assumption that “good” does not mean a greater number of Asian-Americans receiving an education at an elite institution, but involves a more amorphous definition that involves fewer Asian-Americans at those institutions.   That would appear to be a counter-intuitive definition.

I can imagine ways to argue that schools like UCLA and Berkeley evolving so as not to be representative of California’s population is negative for society, but I cannot imagine that one of those ways found at the end of this article.

 

Thinking about Sandy and College Admissions: Class Based Reaction?

My thoughts and prayers go out to all the East Coast residents currently bearing the brunt of hurricane Sandy’s onslaught.  This post, though, is not about meteorology or tide levels, but about how socioeconomic class (and occupation) affect one’s views of disaster.

After thinking about the various permutations of mayhem the hurricane may spawn, one thought lodged in my mind last night, what does this storm mean for college admissions?  The early decision deadline for many schools is Thursday, November 1.  If power goes out, will that mean many East Coast student won’t be able to apply on time?  Will that give Midwestern students like the ones I teach, an edge in the process because they will have fewer students against whom to compete for admission?  How is it best to play the situation?  Should students quickly take advantage of the storm to apply to schools that would otherwise have been out of their reach, taking a shot hoping some talent will wash out of the pool.  Of course, if schools move the deadline, then that cuts off this speculation, but it would at least give students in the Midwest more time to hone their essays and those essays might then look better in comparison to those produced under storm conditions.  Then again if students in the East use the storm as fodder for moving essays, they could be at an advantage.

Then I thought about the thoughts I had and upbraided myself for such blatant opportunism. I also wondered though how much of my reaction is the classic reaction of a sheltered member of the upper middle class who feels isolated from disaster.  Then again perhaps class just plays into how I imagine taking advantage of the disaster.  Instead of thinking of ways to make a buck or two hoarding bottled water, I am thinking of ways students could use the storm to get into the Ivy League.