| critical issue that many of our institutions of higher education are doing a poor job of educating those athletes who entertain us and bring resources and prestige to our institutions. In this year's report that was published just after the 65 teams were selected for the NCAA Tournament, Richard Lapchick, the Director of the CDES, and co-author Ryan Vandament, profiled the academic performance of all of the institutions that are playing in "The Road to the Final Four." Their results were mixed. They acknowledged the good efforts of NCAA President Myles Brand to toughen-up the standards and make NCAA institutions more accountable for the performance of their student-athletes. Despite that, they lamented the fact that "the lingering bad news is the continuing disparity in the academic success between African-American and White men's basketball student-athletes." Basketball, at both the collegiate and professional levels, is a sport that is dominated by a majority of African-American athletes. In NCAA Division 1 basketball, African Americans constitute 60.7% of the players. Of the 65 teams participating in the 2006 Tournament, 35 teams, or 54% of the total did not graduate at least 50% of their basketball players (based on the Federal Graduation Rates methodology). This is a slight improvement from the previous year 2005, when 42 men&'s teams failed to graduate 50% of their athletes. Some of the statistics compiled in this study gives one a sense of the enormity of the reality and the challenges for African-American basketball players. Of the teams participating in the Tournament, 66% of them graduated 70% of their White athletes; while only 33% of them graduated 70% of their African-American athletes -- a gap of 33%. If you look at statistics for graduation rates for all Division 1 basketball players (not just those in the Tournament), 58% of male basketball student-athletes graduate compared to 69% of male student athletes in general (all sports combined). White basketball student-athletes graduate at 76%; only 49% of Africa-American male basketball student-athletes graduate -- a gap of 27%. I recall meeting and having a conversation with Mr. Lapchick when he was brought to the UW-Madison campus to give the keynote speech at a banquet hosted several years ago by the Athletic Department. We discussed the fact that despite the dismal numbers, African-American athletes were actually performing and graduating at rates that were higher than that of African-American students who were not athletes. This can be attributed to a number of reasons. Student athletes have to be more focused if they wish to maintain their eligibility to play. There is statistical data documenting the fact that student athletes actually perform better during their sport's season than they do at other times. Generally speaking, student-athletes have access to more comprehensive student services (tutoring, advising, advocacy, etc.) than other students. To be sure, there is also some cheating in some programs where a student is brought in to "major in eligibility" (i.e., take the easiest courses which may make no sense in terms of a major or the students ability to graduate, but serves to keep them eligible to play on the team). The lack of preparation due to the poor quality of k-12 education is also an important factor influencing student performance, as is the fact that many of these students often face a hostile and non-supportive environment on their campuses. How did the Tournament-bound Big Ten (Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan State, Ohio State, and UW-Madison) and the other Wisconsin teams (UW-Milwaukee and Marquette) fare in this study? The results are mixed. Two teams tied with the best results in their graduation rates for African-American student-athletes -- Indiana and Marquette at 71%. The graduation rate for African-American basketball players at UW-Madison is 50%; and 22% for UW-Milwaukee. One should be careful not to make too much of this data especially when comparing UW-Madison to UW-Milwaukee. Overall, the academic profile of incoming students at Madison is generally higher than that of the typical urban and older student at UW-Milwaukee. One should also be aware of the fact that the national graduation rate for African-American college students hovers around 35%. The stark reality that these numbers drive home to all who care about the successful education of African-American students, and athletes, and all of the good that emanates from a solid education, is that everyone must pitch-in to do more. The NCAA is beginning to turn the corner by putting more pressure on its member institutions to improve the performance and graduation rates for African-American and other student athletes. I applaud the efforts of Richard Lapchick and the Center for Diversity and Ethics in Sports for continuing to "shine the light" on these harsh realities at Tourney time. I have often heard the saying "Don't get mad, get even." While the reality of the numbers may depress us, we must go beyond "getting mad." I myself want also to go beyond "getting even." The message is that, clearly, we must all strive to continue to work with our students, our institutions, and our leaders to hold those accountable to make sure that our students and our student-athletes are given every opportunity to have a successful, rewarding, and positive experience on our campuses. We owe that much, especially to the student-athletes, who bring us so much joy and inspiration at this time of the year. |
| The Literary Divide/ Dr. Paul Barrows "Some Sadness in March Madness?" |
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| It is NCAA Tournament Time -- or, March Madness as it is called! As we closely scrutinize our office pools and root for the student-athletes on our favorite teams, we need to remind ourselves of the importance of the "student" for the student-athlete. The Center for Diversity and Ethics in Sports issued an annual "eport card&" that documented the progress of Division 1 institutions in addressing retention and graduation rates for all athletes. They took advantage of the media hype, with the nation's full attention, to bring to focus the |
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