National Collegiate Athletic Association
NCAA News Archive - 2007
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The women of Rutgers and social change
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By Myles Brand
NCAA President
NCAA President
In America, sport has often been a catalyst to or precursor of social change. One clear example is Jackie Robinson’s breaking the color line with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. While that courageous action by Robinson did not by itself signal a change in the status of African-Americans, it proved to be a watershed event leading to change. Another example, less well known but equally potent, is the passage of Title IX in 1972. That civil rights legislation mandates there is to be no discrimination based on gender in higher education, including college sports. Title IX continues to be a driving force, and rightfully so, for an enhanced role for women in the professions and in sports.
The extraordinary response by the women basketball players of Rutgers and their coach Vivian Stringer to the hurtful, hateful and heinous comments from Don Imus may be another tipping point leading to social change.
Over the past decade, and longer, popular culture and common behavior have moved further away from the respectful toward the demeaning and vulgar. Insult and disrespect have prospered; racism, sexism and homophobia have been the tools of shock jocks, musical artists and pundits alike. Consideration of others is not only disfavored but scorned by those who use the airwaves and the print media to dehumanize and demean. All too often, women have been the target.
As Rutgers President Richard McCormick and I noted in our joint statement shortly after the incident, the use of racist and sexist remarks about young women students and basketball players, who had done nothing to deserve the attack nor who were public figures, was wrong. A line had been crossed with language that exceeded even what popular culture will tolerate.
The grace and maturity with which the women of Rutgers responded emphasized even more the contrast between the vulgar that society has been willing to ignore and the impact that such language and behavior can have on humankind and women in specific. Finally, as coach Stringer so eloquently noted, the target of meanness had faces — the 10 young women who are college students and college athletes. Instead of joining the rising clamor for punishment and vindication, these young women and their coach showed incredible dignity and integrity. In a remarkable nationally televised press conference, they carefully explained why Imus’ remarks were hurtful. They asked only for a personal apology and did not attack in kind. They took the high road, to say, in their own way, that it is not acceptable to be disrespectful, to be mean-spirited, to be racist or sexist. People deserve to be treated better.
Regardless of what happened to Mr. Imus, the women of Rutgers have sent a clear message. No longer will it be acceptable to affect meanness without expecting consequences. Popular culture has moved too much in that direction, and it is now time to push back. A tipping point may have been reached.
If this is correct, if this incident and the reaction to it is a catalyst to social change, then we should begin to see a return to more civil discourse in the public arena. In that case, the Rutgers women’s basketball team will have triumphed far beyond anything they could have accomplished in the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Championship. They, as role models in sports have done before, will have succeeded in leading the way toward a more civil behavior, including the tone of our discourse. Time will tell.
Myles Brand is president of the NCAA.
The extraordinary response by the women basketball players of Rutgers and their coach Vivian Stringer to the hurtful, hateful and heinous comments from Don Imus may be another tipping point leading to social change.
Over the past decade, and longer, popular culture and common behavior have moved further away from the respectful toward the demeaning and vulgar. Insult and disrespect have prospered; racism, sexism and homophobia have been the tools of shock jocks, musical artists and pundits alike. Consideration of others is not only disfavored but scorned by those who use the airwaves and the print media to dehumanize and demean. All too often, women have been the target.
As Rutgers President Richard McCormick and I noted in our joint statement shortly after the incident, the use of racist and sexist remarks about young women students and basketball players, who had done nothing to deserve the attack nor who were public figures, was wrong. A line had been crossed with language that exceeded even what popular culture will tolerate.
The grace and maturity with which the women of Rutgers responded emphasized even more the contrast between the vulgar that society has been willing to ignore and the impact that such language and behavior can have on humankind and women in specific. Finally, as coach Stringer so eloquently noted, the target of meanness had faces — the 10 young women who are college students and college athletes. Instead of joining the rising clamor for punishment and vindication, these young women and their coach showed incredible dignity and integrity. In a remarkable nationally televised press conference, they carefully explained why Imus’ remarks were hurtful. They asked only for a personal apology and did not attack in kind. They took the high road, to say, in their own way, that it is not acceptable to be disrespectful, to be mean-spirited, to be racist or sexist. People deserve to be treated better.
Regardless of what happened to Mr. Imus, the women of Rutgers have sent a clear message. No longer will it be acceptable to affect meanness without expecting consequences. Popular culture has moved too much in that direction, and it is now time to push back. A tipping point may have been reached.
If this is correct, if this incident and the reaction to it is a catalyst to social change, then we should begin to see a return to more civil discourse in the public arena. In that case, the Rutgers women’s basketball team will have triumphed far beyond anything they could have accomplished in the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Championship. They, as role models in sports have done before, will have succeeded in leading the way toward a more civil behavior, including the tone of our discourse. Time will tell.
Myles Brand is president of the NCAA.
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