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Race and college sports
A student recently wrote to ask about the integration of college sports, particularly in the Deep South, in the 1960s and 1970s. Historical numbers are hard to come by, but the NCAA has pretty complete breakdowns of athletes, coaches, and administrators on its website. Here are some interesting facts (see this Excel file for raw data):
* Two-thirds of students at Division I colleges in 2004-5 were white. Ten percent were black.
* Sixty percent of scholarship athletes at those institutions were white. Thirty percent of male athletes were black; 23 percent of all athletes were black. (Apart from international athletes, no other minority group had more than 3 percent of all athletes.)
* In basketball, 61 percent of scholarship athletes were black. Black men were also a majority (55 percent) of all scholarship football players.
* About 12 percent of coaches in 2003 were black, according to a separate report.
So with “Glory Road” out in the theaters, celebrating the integration of college sports, how are race relations in the locker room? How is the situation on your campus? I’ve been places where athletes were 3/4 of all black men on campus, and felt like they were stereotyped because of it. I’ve been other places where, even on mostly white campuses, athletes of all races were immersed in hip-hop culture. What’s it like from where you sit?
