A January 2006 demographic study highlights a lack of diversity atop athletic leadership positions at universities competing at the Division I-A level of the National Colleg-iate Athletic Association.
The study - conducted by the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at the University of Central Florida and titled "The Buck Stops Here: Assessing Diversity among Campus and Conference Leaders for Division I A Schools in 2006" - shows that 456 out of 487 presidents, athletic directors, faculty athletic representatives, conference commissioners and head football coaches are white.
"Athletic leadership is overwhelmingly white and overwhelmingly male, about 94 percent of presidents, 89 percent of (athletic directors) and 94 percent of faculty athletic directors are all white," said Richard Lapchick, president and CEO of the National Consortium for Academics and Sport, who authored the study. The study also shows that 96.7 percent of head football coaches and all 11 Division I-A conference commissioners are white men.
Lapchick, who is the vice president of the Black Coaches Association, said that the race of college and university leaders may have a negative effect on minority hiring. "When you have people that look like me - I happen to be white - and when we have an open position that we're trying to hire for, we're trying to do it as expeditiously as possible. We know a certain range of people and frequently they look like us," he said.
"It's not racist, but the effect is certainly racial," he added.
Lapchick suggested that schools should open the hiring process by having search committees that are diverse and search for a diverse set of candidates. He suggested that committees devote several weeks or even months to looking for the best qualified candidates rather than a "quick proposition," and that the affirmative action guidelines of each university should be followed.
Lapchick lauded several colleges and universities who have received A's on the BCA's annual "Hiring Report Card" for following their school's affirmative action guidelines, even if they did not ultimately hire a minority candidate.
On Jan. 30. 2006, Charlotte Westerhaus, the NCAA's vice president for diversity inclusion, assembled a panel to address diversity within the NCAA. Westerhaus chairs the 44-member "blue ribbon committee," which also consists of prominent figures such as Lapchick, University of Washington Head Football Coach Tyrone Willingham and David Roach, Brown's former athletic director and current athletic director at Colgate University. The panel also includes other athletic administrators, coaches, student athletes and representatives from coaching organizations.
At the end of this year, the committee will make recommendations to Miles Brand, president of the NCAA, who will report the recommendations at the NCAA national convention in 2007, Westerhaus said.
She said that the NCAA has established fellowship programs that allow coaches and administrators to meet with females and minorities who aspire to positions in athletic leadership.
"This is the 100th anniversary of the NCAA, and it is the 25th year that women have been a part of NCAA championships. This is a very pivotal time in our history and a significant time to really be proactive and also to be effective in our supporting of diversity and inclusion in collegiate athletics," Westerhaus said.
Brown was not included in Lapchick's study because it only took into account the 119 schools that compete at the Division I-A football level.
Lapchick did credit Brown for its fair hiring practices and praised Columbia University for recently hiring Norries Wilson, the Ivy League's first African-American head football coach.
Last year, Brown proved its commitment to fair hiring practices in hiring former Dean of Admission Michael Goldberger as director of athletics after a search process that lasted over five months.
"The veteran leadership on this committee knew how to conduct a very diverse search for our athletic director," said Will Burroughs '05, who was a member of the committee in search of Brown's new athletic director.
The committee contacted leading females and minorities in the field as well as organizations such as the BCA, Burroughs said. Luiz Valente, associate professor of Portuguese and Brazilian studies and chair of the search committee, added that publications such as the Chronicle of Higher Education, Black Issues in Higher Education, Hispanic Outlook Magazine, the NCAA News, Brown Alumni Magazine and the Baker Parker publica-tion held ads for the athletic director position.
"We asked every candidate about their approach to diversity," said Executive Officer of Campus Life and Student Services MaryLou McMillan, who put together the athletic director search committee. She added that it was important to the committee that the candidates knew how to both articulate and implement their philosophy on diversity.
"When you look at Goldie, he's just a gem and so committed to everything," she said. "He's such a good egg, and thinks about people in such a variety of ways."
Associate Provost and Director of Institutional Diversity Brenda Allen said that she and other administrators are committed to the University's affirmative action policy, which is monitored by the Office of Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action.
"Every new opening here abides by a process that's fair and nondiscriminatory to all kinds of people," Allen said.
Allen recently met with Goldberger to discuss "strategic outreach plans." She said they will try to establish internships with historically black colleges and universities and Hispanic-serving institutions so that minorities can receive the necessary training that would help get them into academic, athletic and administrative work. She said they are also working on building relationships with minorities around the country who can give them access to many informal networks that will increase the diversity of applicant pools.
"Goldie and I have talked about taking some trips and that they may try visiting a few schools," Allen said. "Markets that we don't generally tap, we are going to try to tap a bit more systematically and consistently over the next few years to see if we can make a difference. "All we can do both legally and morally is to try and make sure that the applicant pools that we have are rich and diverse. If they are, then you are able to tap some of those areas that you don't have represented," she added.
Goldberger echoed Allen's sentiments.
"It is important that our University represents what America looks like," he said, adding that "we have a long way to go towards achieving that goal."
