Frazier was concerned with the entire student athlete and their futures. While football is why they were here, Frazier was again concerned for the whole person. Only 1.6-2.0 percent of college players make it to the NFL. I feel that Frazier was concerned for the other 98 percent and that there was more to their collegiate experience than just being cannon fodder for those who make it into the NFL and then cast aside.

I took a peek at the academic record of student athletes at Northern Illinois University since 2013 when Frazier took the reins. And from what I could see, regardless of the on-field performance of the teams — some did well, some were middling and some were not competitive — NIU student athletes did well academically in comparison to those from other teams. In my opinion, Sean Frazier did well by his student athletes. They were more than student gladiators fighting it out on the field every Saturday. While that might not be important to the powers that be, it is important to me that Black athletes are not used up during their college years and tossed aside after their usefulness is over.

And so, I can’t understand why Sean Frazier didn’t get an interview. He was a finalist the last go around when Chris McIntosh was hired to replace Barry Alvarez. I can see no scandals at NIU while he has been in charge, he has been continuously employed there for 13 years and again is concerned for the student athlete. And pundits are projecting that the NIU football team is poised to have an excellent season this fall.

While I don’t know Sedberry, one would think that he would get a chance to make his case to be the next athletic director since UW-Madison chose him to run the department for the interim. Shouldn’t he have at least gotten a courtesy nod with an interview? I would suspect that Sedberry will look elsewhere for a position now that he has found our publicly what UW-Madison thinks of him and his administrative skills.

So why weren’t two Black candidates who have served UW-Madison as deputy athletic directors and have had extensive experience interviewed.

Well one reason is the reality that the UW Badgers have become a professional football team in every way except the legal title. I see that Culvers, which I love, has donated enough money to have its logo on the floor of the UW basketball court. It is now the people with money — and maybe it always was — who are making the decisions and winning the Big 10 and competing in the national football playoffs are all that matter. All other considerations are secondary.

But I also have to look at the appearance of all of this and have to wonder if this is a part of the trend of what has been happening at UW-Madison — and all UW System schools — over the past few years. Due to the extreme pressure of conservatives epitomized by Donald Trump, UW-Madison has been getting cleansed of any sign of Diversity, Inclusion and Equity. The Department of Diversity, Equity and Educational Advancement, DDEEA, was disbanded and some of its components scattered across the collegiate landscape. I have friends who work in various projects at UW-Madison. And they have told me that references to DEI have been cleansed from their literature even if their project was established to work on the impact of the institution’s neglect of students of color over the years. It appears that UW-Madison has caved in to these conservative demands — perhaps I would too if I were in their shoes — and students of color have become relatively invisible on campus. The percentage of Black students at UW-Madison is less than the percentage in the general population.

For decades beginning with the Great Migration and continuing into the 1970s, it was Blacks working in Milwaukee’s factories who helped generate Wisconsin’s wealth and paid state taxes, but it wasn’t their children who were attending UW-Madison. Where was the conservative outrage when Blacks and other students of color were excluded? Apparently the outrage is not based on principle. It’s based on whiteness.

And so what message is Frazier and Sedberry not advancing to get an interview sending, especially since Frazier was a finalist before all of the DEI furor began? Would it appear that they were DEI candidates instead of qualified candidates who should have been interviewed? From my perspective, it just doesn’t look good.

I am glad that the Urban League and others are asking for a transparent review of the process. For its own sake, UW-Madison need to do this. It’s appearance is that of a whiter institution. Let’s hope the athletic director hiring isn’t a part of that same trend. We shall see.