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The NCAA News -- January 18, 1999

'In Division II, we have a crisis'

CEOs concerned about regression in diversity

BY DAVID PICKLE
STAFF WRITER

SAN ANTONIO -- Division II has a problem with administrative diversity, and many of the division's chief executive officers believe that they need to play a major role in the solution.

About 80 Division II presidents participated in a January 10 NCAA Convention forum on the subject. They shared their sense of the problem, frustrations they experience and several possible solutions.

Queens College (New York) President Allen Lee Sessoms, who moderated the forum, was blunt in his assessment of the situation.

"In Division II, we have a crisis," he said.

Sessoms noted that the percentage of minority and women administrators is declining from numbers that were already exceptionally low. The most recent study by the NCAA Minority Opportunities and Interests Committee showed that only six of the 236 Division II athletics directors at non-historically black institutions are African-American. Excluding historically black institutions, the division has only one black faculty athletics representative.

Such statistics led the CEOs to make diversity the focal point of the forum. The presidents also took time to address strategic planning and the new distribution formula for the Division II enhancement fund, but the centerpiece of the program was diversity.

John DiBiaggio, president of Tufts University and former president of Michigan State University, addressed the group, noting that although the problem with diversity hiring is not limited to athletics administration, many factors make the problem less excusable in athletics.

"Quite frankly, you have to admit that we have not been terribly successful in diversifying our institutions in any regard, whether that be student enrollment or certainly in our faculty makeup," DiBiaggio said.

"The reality is, however, that the excuse we ought to make for not having adequate numbers of faculty from underrepresented groups is that they're simply not available to us in certain disciplines.

"For instance, it's tragic to note that a year ago at all of the four-year institutions in this country, we graduated one African-American physics Ph.D. Now if that is the case, indeed we can argue that it is very difficult to find underrepresented faculty members in some disciplines, particularly the physical sciences.

"But ladies and gentlemen, that can hardly be said about intercollegiate athletics, where we have had an abundance of very skilled and accomplished athletes from an underrepresented group who could easily move into leadership roles in intercollegiate athletics administration. We've got to ask ourselves why that hasn't happened."

Obstacles faced

DiBiaggio said women and minorities have come up short in athletics administration for the following reasons:

  • Colleges and universities have not adequately prepared such individuals for sports administration careers.

  • Athletes have not been provided with adequate secondary roles and often find themselves adrift after they do not realize their ambitions to compete professionally.

  • Candidates from underrepresented groups often have not received sufficient consideration for what positions are open.

    "Now, I don't think any of those arguments hold any water," DiBiaggio said. "I think we have to look very hard at ourselves and begin to face an issue that is going to be more and more important to our society, and that is finding vehicles for those student-athletes who do not intend or could not pursue careers in professional sports. And we have available to us a rather large cadre who can do so."

    Sessoms said the problem can be solved only through CEO involvement since minority hiring has declined using more passive approaches.

    "This suggests to me that we're not paying attention," he said, "that we're leaving these hiring decisions to the athletics directors who have certain criteria in place. We're not as CEOs paying attention to what they're doing. In fact, they're doing things the way have customarily done things and in spite of our protestations to the contrary, positions are eroded."

    The presidents seemed to agree that the numbers have to improve. Several, however, cited obstructions to their efforts to acquire minority personnel. Among those barriers were the following:

  • Qualified minority applicants can command larger salaries than Division II institutions are able to pay.

  • Candidates are seeking professional opportunities in Division I.

  • Professional movement within Division II is relatively stagnant, resulting in fewer opportunities.

  • Minorities and women are not necessarily aware of professional opportunities in sports administration, especially at the Division II level.

  • Many Division II coaches also are required to teach, thus restricting the pool of applicants.

    Possible solutions

    Several presidents suggested creative ways in which Division II athletics administration might become more diversified:

  • Nearby institutions might be able to jointly hire minority administrators for certain functions.

  • Division II programs might be able to develop cooperative hiring ventures and programs with Division I institutions.

  • Programs could be established to educate minority students, especially athletes, on careers in Division II sports administration.

  • More professional opportunities could be created through early retirement programs.

  • Diversity is more likely to be achieved if an individual is given specific responsibility on an institution-wide basis for making certain that applicant pools include minorities and women.

  • Prospective minority and female administrators could benefit from an institute, perhaps similar to initiatives conducted by the American Council on Education.

  • Historically black institutions face the same hiring problems that other institutions do, but they are able to hire minority candidates. Perhaps the rest of the division could benefit from a dialogue with those institutions to determine what they do differently.

    The Division II Project Team to Review Issues Related to Diversity, chaired by new Management Council chair Clint Bryant of Augusta State University, has suggested an NCAA matching-funds arrangement that would help institutions desiring to hire minority administrators. Although the proposal is in its formative stages, several presidents seemed intrigued by its potential.

    Bryant noted that one solution is immediately available at no cost.

    "The hiring of the faculty athletics representative is not like the hiring of the athletics director," Bryant told the presidents. "Faculty representatives are appointed by the presidents. We all can leave here today and make a significant adjustment just by going and appointing a female or a person of color."

    Arend D. Lubbers, president of Grand Valley State University and chair of the Division II Presidents Council, said afterward that the forum was time well-spent.

    "I can't remember a CEO luncheon where the people were more engaged in the topic," he said.

    "I thought that was encouraging. People were ready to talk and share their ideas and opinions. In fact, it seemed as though they were eager to."

    CONVENTION NOTES

  • The Convention was the final one for NCAA Associate Executive Director Louis J. Spry. Spry, who is retiring in April, has attended every NCAA Convention since 1967 and has managed every one since a special Convention in St. Louis in 1981.

  • Members of the Divisions I, II and III Student-Athlete Advisory Committees made the most of their opportunity in San Antonio, taking time January 8 to conduct a clinic with the local Boys and Girls Clubs. The Division II SAAC conducted a similar clinic when it met before the Division II Student-Athlete Summit in July.

  • NCAA President Cedric W. Dempsey announced during a Convention news conference that the Association has sold its aircraft. The airplane will be sold for $2.8 million, assuming it passes an inspection.

  • Attendance for the Convention was 1,853, down from 2,096 last year. Attendance at the 1997 Convention, the last under the old structure, was 2,685.