Opinion: Letter
Diversity good, no matter the source
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Opinion writer Joe Labuz is right to bemoan the fact that the proportion of minority students on the UW-Madison campus is so small the minority presence in varsity athletics makes up a significant fraction of all minority students on campus (Oct. 20, “Athletes the key to diversity? Are you kidding me?”). This is particularly true for African-American males, who make up less than 2 percent of the undergraduate population but about half of the men’s football and basketball teams, as noted recently by University of Pennsylvania expert Shaun Harper in a lecture at the Wisconsin Center for Education Research.
But Labuz is wrong to disparage the role of athletics in contributing to our campus diversity goals. While their time for clubs and organizations is limited by the demands of their schedules, athletes take classes like all other students — indeed, progress in classes is required for athletic participation. Their engagement in classes contributes to a more diverse classroom environment and helps ensure a greater variety of ideas and experiences are represented. This is particularly important in fields like mine, sociology, where diversity is essential to the subject matter and varied backgrounds among students can enrich classroom discussion and debate. Outside of class, athletes, including those from minority backgrounds, are especially active in service activities, contributing 1,500 hours of community service in 2008-09. In short, minority athletes on campus are not just a boost to campus diversity numbers, but they also enhance the diversity climate in significant ways.
I agree a truly diverse campus community would be one in which our minority population were so large that minority athletes did not make up such a significant fraction. While we work toward that goal, however, let’s recognize the many programs that contribute to minority representation on campus — including athletics.
Adam Gamoran
Professor, Department of Sociology
Faculty representative on the Athletic Board
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More diversity? So our crime rate can rival LAs? Too much diversity here, thank you.
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“Their engagement in classes contributes to a more diverse classroom environment and helps ensure a greater variety of ideas and experiences are represented.”
But “diversity” doesn’t deal with ideas, it attempts to attain equal numbers of people based on their race and sex. And since a person’s ideas are not determined by his race or sex, but his individual thoughts and character, “diversity” is actually an attack on the intellect.
Diversity, in effect, says: ignore the character and ideas of individuals, group people based on superficial physical characteristics and then try to achieve equal group representation. This is collectivism and racism.
If one cares about ideas one must ignore biologically determined traits like skin color and sex - things a person has no control over - and focus on their individual character and ideas.
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God. The Herald needs to take down its online comment boards. How embarrassing.
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Seconded
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Or maybe require that commenters actually present an argument instead of advocating the suppression of view they don’t agree with.
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The Herald is fine to allow most of the comments people post. However, there have been cases (especially recently) where insensitive comments have been allowed. Most of these comments have come on the heels of articles about race.
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Insensitive!??? Since when is this a standard for intellectual debate? What, are you five years old or something?
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There may be more diversity in collegiate athletics, but it is not for the sake of diversity itself. Athletic recruiting is done only with the sole objective to get the best athletes. On the surface, it may seem like a good thing, but if you look a little deeper, you quickly uncover the truth. Minority athletes are nothing more than window dressing. Just look at what happens at test time. Who writes their term papers? Where are the tutors? Who actually cares about an athlete’s academic success?
And then one day they graduate, but they are totally unprepared for a career. Hopefully, they’ll get signed on by a professional sports team, but the prospect of earning a living any other way is nothing more than a pipe dream.
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“There may be more diversity in collegiate athletics, but it is not for the sake of diversity itself. Athletic recruiting is done only with the sole objective to get the best athletes.”
And this is a bad thing? The sole objective SHOULD be to get the best athletes. Pursing “diversity” instead of athletic achievement amounts to saying “you have the right skin color for the job.” How insulting!
There is NO rational basis to have a racially diverse football team. What you want is a SKILLED football team.
And what’s wrong with students exclusively pursuing their dream of becoming a professional athlete or even just playing while they’re in college. Not everyone wants to go to college, nor pursue the type of career that college requires. That’s their choice.
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There’s such a thing as economic diversity too.
My dad was only able to go to Wisconsin because he played football. He was the first college grad I know of in my paternal line, going back at least to a direct ancestor who was a Revolutionary War soldier. He evetually got a Masters, as did I, as did my son.
Badger Football been very, very good to me!