Right, wrong, or *gasp* racist?

[SouthernN'Proud]

TRENTON, N.J. -- A longtime critic of Rutgers University's drive into big-time sports is being criticized over a newspaper article comment that university officials have branded as racist.

At the end of a New York Times article Wednesday about William C. Dowling's failed efforts to get Rutgers to turn away from high-stakes athletics, the tenured English professor responded to arguments that athletic scholarships provide opportunity to low-income, minority students.

"If you were giving the scholarship to an intellectually brilliant kid who happens to play a sport, that's fine," Dowling said. "But they give it to a functional illiterate who can't read a cereal box, and then make him spend 50 hours a week on physical skills. That's not opportunity. If you want to give financial help to minorities, go find the ones who are at the library after school."

Rutgers Athletic Director Bob Mulcahy told local newspapers that Dowling's comment was "a blatantly racist statement."

In a statement released by the university, Rutgers President Richard McCormick called it "inaccurate and inhumane."

"It also has a racist implication that has no place whatsoever in our civil discourse," McCormick said in the statement.

A Rutgers spokesman said Thursday he did not know if Dowling would face any sanctions.

Contacted Thursday, Dowling defended his statement, saying that Mulcahy and McCormick had taken it out of context, that he was directly answering a question related to minorities.

"If someone has a way to answer that question without mentioning race, I would like to hear it," said Dowling, who called the officials' accusation of racism the "cheapest rhetorical ploy I've ever heard."

Dowling, who said he was arrested in the South during the 1960s for work in the civil rights movement, said McCormick was racist for running an athletics program that exploited minorities.

"None of these kids would have been able to get into Rutgers if they hadn't been able to throw something or kick something or slam dunk something," Dowling said.

So y'all will know I didn't just make this up out of thin air and such

So. Where do we fall on this?

I'll abstain...for now.

 

[tonksy]

College is for literates. Minorities can read. They don't usually send stupid white folk to college for free so fair is fair.

 

[Gonz]

This guy will go the way of the (Harvard?) Predident who also spoke out of turn & didn't look PC enough to the progressive crowd. You know them, they allow a murdering dictator to speak because it's his right (even though he isn't an America) but they shove pie in the face of conservative speakers.

 

[chcr]

Good job of completely failing to address the question at hand while spouting your own rhetoric there.

Couldn't agree more with the professor, but then, I went to school in the Ivy League. Our season opener was two weeks ago and you can bet your ass that no professors cut anyone any slack because they're on a team. Silly bastards think people go to college to get an education. If they were actually giving these kids an education I might feel differently but a lot of these sports scholarship kids graduate, I said GRADUATE, no more literate than when they arrived. Higher education my ass. I know which folks are really being racist.

End of rant, go on about your business.

 

[2minkey]

he's doing nothing other than suggesting that scholarship money be awarded for brains rather than athletics.

the real objection should be coming from folks like rush limbaugh who utterly depend on people being less educated and more like drooling "do it for the team" bandwagoneers.

 

[catocom]

anytime a persons' comments are taken out of context, it's a disservice to truth.

 

[SouthernN'Proud]

I personally agree with this, having observed it many times first hand:

"If you were giving the scholarship to an intellectually brilliant kid who happens to play a sport, that's fine," Dowling said. "But they give it to a functional illiterate who can't read a cereal box, and then make him spend 50 hours a week on physical skills. That's not opportunity. If you want to give financial help to minorities, go find the ones who are at the library after school."

I also agree with this:

Silly bastards think people go to college to get an education. If they were actually giving these kids an education I might feel differently but a lot of these sports scholarship kids graduate, I said GRADUATE, no more literate than when they arrived. Higher education my ass. I know which folks are really being racist.

And with this:

he's doing nothing other than suggesting that scholarship money be awarded for brains rather than athletics.

I've stated in other threads on this board that I am a huge sports fan. That includes some college athletics. I have also stated many times that I would genuinely like to see college athletics returned to what it began as: a contest to see which school had the better athletes among its scholars.

I am not naive enough to be looking for that to happen anytime soon.

I personally don't care what color someone is. If they can pass the admissions standards like any other student on campus, and if they are held to the same academic standards that other students are held to, then I have zero problem with the granting of athletic scholarships. TO QUALIFIED RECIPIENTS WHO ARE CAPABLE OF DOING COLLEGE LEVEL WORK IN THE CLASSROOM. I won't name names; I don't have to. We all could name a dozen or more professional athletes in any sport who have degrees from any number of colleges, and sound like a moron when they speak. When the NFL has the starting lineup announced player by player, with their respective college mentioned, I imagine that deans of academic standards across the nation cringe. Or maybe they don't. They should...

Were the comments of the professor racist? Close call. He tap danced pretty close to the line IMO. Are they accurate? Mostly. There are exceptions to every rule. I've heard athletes of every race make fools of themselves, and I've heard them sound educated and distinguished. So lumping anyone together is not the best way to make a point. Maybe Shakespeare here just neglected to insert the words "many" or "often times" or "usually".

I can see where a dedicated academian such as the typical English professor would grow weary of having these cretins populate his classrooms. I can also see where he has better resources at his disposal BECAUSE said cretin is a Heisman finalist and thereby has increased sporting event ticket sales, merchandising revenues, and a hundred other avenues for the influx of dollars to the university. So which one is more right? I dunno. That's why I chose to post this and open the discussion. Does one hand wash the other and thereby benefit both sides? Or is there an imbalance?

Last thought on the topic to this point: As a college graduate who did NOT get my way paid, and who cannot dunk a basketball or run the 40 in under 4 minutes much less seconds, I respected the athletes on campus who went to class, pulled the grades, and were in that library with me at closing time. I also resented those who felt like the world owed them something simply because they were talented on a playing field. I found a fairly strong correlation between the literacy levels of the two groups. I can think of three athletes from my alma mater who made it in professional sports. There are likely more, considering that baseball isn't usually tracked back to college attended like football and basketball are. I just wonder how some of those other athletes are paying the bills these days...

 

[paul_valaru]

"But they give it to a functional illiterate who can't read a cereal box, and then make him spend 50 hours a week on physical skills. That's not opportunity. If you want to give financial help to minorities, go find the ones who are at the library after school."

Racist comment.

The first sentence is ok, but the second sentence equates the functional illiterates with minorities. Saying that all the functional illiterates are minorities, also implying all the scholarship athletes are minorities and functional illiterates.

Sounds like this guy thinks white guys can't be dumb, and can't be good at sports, while minorities can't be smart, and automatically excel at sports. And by minorities I think he was thinking of one particular minority.

 

[SouthernN'Proud]

Or is he saying that all athletes are functional illiterates?

Wrong either way, but I do wonder.

 

[paul_valaru]

Or is he saying that all athletes are functional illiterates?

Wrong either way, but I do wonder.

Well, he is certainly implying that as well.

 

[chcr]

See, I got that he's saying why waste a scholarship on someone dumb as a stump simply because they have an athletic talent. He never suggests that functional illiterates necessarily belong to one race or another. In fact, he doesn't mention race at all. The AD is the one who brings it up. Again, it's pretty obvious who really believes some races are intellectually inferior, isn't it?

He also says:

If you were giving the scholarship to an intellectually brilliant kid who happens to play a sport, that's fine

 

[unclehobart]

See, I got that he's saying why waste a scholarship on someone dumb as a stump simply because they have an athletic talent. He never suggests that functional illiterates necessarily belong to one race or another. In fact, he doesn't mention race at all. The AD is the one who brings it up. Again, it's pretty obvious who really believes some races are intellectually inferior, isn't it?

He also says:

I don't even get that from what he said.

To me, he is saying. 'Are we willing to bring in academic sub-par students at the expense of the reputation of the school?' Granted, a 100k$ 4 year scholorship to a god running back will come back 100 fold in sales of tickets, hats, jerseys, coffee cups, and alumni donations... but it will classify the University as a football school in the minds of the public instead of the top 5% tier academic school they believe themselves to be... and if you really want to make the school a sport powerhouse, then you are after the best bodies... the mind is a secondary consideration. I daresay that the collective football SAT scores of any top 25 team is going to come in below those of the general admission of the school.

The mentioning of minorities is immaterial since the greater interview was based upon discussing minorities in general. It wasn't an isloated dig against minorities. Contextual dismissal.

 

[SouthernN'Proud]

So the consensus thus far seems to be that the admins are jumping the gun in their haste to label it as racism I take it.

Interesting.

 

[BeardofPants]

Not sure if I think he's being racist or not. I dunno. I think he's probably (IMHO, rightly) frustrated by this process though. Universities should be reserved for those who make it in by meeting the requisite criteria, not because they can throw a ball. REGARDLESS OF RACE.

 

[catocom]

I'm not saying there isn't racism in the country, I know there is, but
it's bad really that some want to Make as many circumstances as possible Into racism,
even when it's not meant that way.

I think some of the activist need to be careful in the fights they select,
and really watch out for these people that are just baiting.
If they don't it may come back to bite them, as it has a couple of times previously.

It's just the way it is, that statistics are what they are.

 

[unclehobart]

Lord knows you have whole grey scales of prejudice and bigotry under outright racism. Very little is true racism. Most thoughts and acts like these are really simple prejudice.

 

[ResearchMonkey]

Spade is a spade.

Minority's are the majoriity 'to throw something or kick something or slam dunk something'.

He's pissed!

He's prolly tired of seeing studious minds such as Walter, trying to obtain their degree working two jobs (want fries with that?) only to drop-out 2nd-year because they can't afford it.

And then seeing the flash of 'Bling' comming from the Bumping white Denali; Tiree aka 'Scnhizzle' with his crew and some bitches in the same drive thru.




What I find amusing is that by saying "minority" he a racist. Add it to the black-list with the other nasty words like: Mother, Father, Fireman.

Has anyone seen the Nat'l Goegraphic documentay Idiocracy

 

[Gonz]

Good job of completely failing to address the question at hand while spouting your own rhetoric there

Glad you took the time to read it & see I did answer it.

 

[2minkey]

here's the deal.

if he had pulled "minorities" out of thin air - in the sense of asserting a previous assumption that poor minorities are illiterate dipshits - that would be one thing. that would be an indication that he held some prejudicial notions of minority folk.

but it appears to me - in as little detail as the article has - that that's not what happened. the topic was sent to him already with specific respect of improving minorities in an educational sense.

he probably could have qualified his statement "minorities... or ANY student" but he may not have felt like bending over for an angle-seeker at that particular moment.

my bet is he pigged the AD's wife or daughter in the butt, and the AD is out for revenge.

it's situations like this that help make us less sensitive to REAL racism, just like all the stupid, opportunistic lawsuits in this country tend to make us dismissive - at least initially - toward ALL lawsuits, even the ones that are justified.

they should charge the AD with "ass baiting" and make him attend the dreaded sensitivity training - twice - with a bunch of corporate accountants. that'll teach him.

 

[SouthernN'Proud]

my bet is he pigged the AD's wife or daughter in the butt, and the AD is out for revenge.

Umm, yeah...I was...uhh...thinking that too...

it's situations like this that help make us less sensitive to REAL racism

Agreed.






Where the hell do you come up with the "ass-pigging"? That's almost winky-ish!