Since some of you dont believe Racism is alive and well.....

[jessexy]

Here is a link of an ESPN article about Rutgers. In it, a tenured English professor knowingly answers a question about minority athletes and calls the ones at Rutgers "functionally illiterates."

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/news/story?id=3040343

http://www.sportingnews.com/yourturn/viewtopic.php?t=278351

Even the AD and the School President, who are both white, agree that thr professor is out of line and racist.

[Beta]

"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."

[Steno]

I don't know if I would color him (so to speak) as totally racist. His comment seemed to begin with condemning heavy-handed sports recruiting, and then segued into a condemnation of how the school is trying to tone down it's own white-washing.

Now, mentioning race in an argument does not make you racist; perhaps if you looked at a racial breakdown at Rutgers, you would see that a heavy amount of their racial diversity is contained in their athletics program. Regardless, his argument that a student should be up to par academically to attend a school is perfectly legitimate.

His comment could be colored as being racially essentialist, but I think we're missing the point of what he's trying to say by lording over a technicality in his statement.

Or maybe I'm just jealous because I have to play a club sport.

[StrykerFSU]

I didn't see any racist meaning. I saw an honest statement about the role of athletics at a big time state school. I think that the folks at Rutgers don't like this guy's point so they are taking a page from the Al Sharpton playbook and slandering the messenger rather than throughfully debating the issue. Maybe there is more to his statement than is mentioned in the articles linked here but I saw no mention of race whatsoever. What is clear is that these two sides have no love for each other and the school administrators are lashing out at a Professor for publicly pointing out the inequities in big time college athletics.

Is it more racist to point out faults in the current system or to continue to exploit "student-athletes" for profit without providing them with an education in return? Is it right to give a spot at the university to a kid who is academically unsuited at the expense of another student just because the former can run with a ball?

"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."

[LaxRef]

"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."

There's nothing even remotely racist until that last sentence. But I don't think they should be giving a scholarship to anyone in this situation.

[semilaxed]

I have sympathy for anyone being interviewed by the newspaper. I once sat through a 30 min interview with an jerk reporter that kept saying to me "come on give me something good to print." This was because I was trying not so say anything stupid. Later when the article came out he had pieced together a bunch of out of context comments into a "daily show" like interview . He made it seem like I was T. O. or Ocho Cinco or something.

In regards to this article I believe someone when they say a quote was taken out of context.

In regards to student athletes there is a major problem in the system at big schools. Because if you catch one of these guys cheating or what not its not just taken up with the school. You will have to defend your self in front of national press, ESPN, and what ever groups show up to discredit you. If you weigh it, its passing an idiot and continuing through your career vs. failing one and going through the long process of writing that F. I understand the frustration of this professor in that regard. Its sad because its not the school its really the publics pressure on a school to be good at athletics.

[peterwho]

Because if you catch one of these guys cheating or what not its not just taken up with the school. You will have to defend your self in front of national press, ESPN, and what ever groups show up to discredit you.

Or maybe if you catch 23 of these "guys" cheating...

23 FSU athletes implicated in cheating inquiry

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/sfl-flspfsu27nbsep27,0,5414291.story

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/sfl-flspfsu28nbsep28,0,6004117.story

I agree with many of the posts above, the professor's comments were not racially motivated. I think they express the frustration of one side of the "student" athlete debate. If you have to have a team of "Learning Specialists" assigned to ensure academic eligibility for a large percentage of the team, doesn't that provide strong support for the professor's point?

[Jana]

I am coaching a group of boys this fall in novice rowing, we asked the boys to nominate candidates for co-captains and tell us why. Yesterday the coaching staff reviewed the nominations and chose co-captains.

After making the announcement, one of the kids who wasn't picked (who often opens mouth and inserts foot), then casually asked me "coach, are you jewish?" I was surprised, but answered "No, i'm not. Why do you ask?" to which he answered "Oh, I thought maybe you were, and you picked the co-captains because they're jewish".

I was pretty stunned, but I realized he is just 15 and may not understand the anti-semitic implications of his comment or how offensive they are. If the co-captains were both Catholic would he have asked me if I was Catholic?

We all learn our social skills and manners over time, and sometimes by making mistakes. So I told him "No. That had nothing to do with it. Let's stay away from religion today, the club handbook doesn't allow any comments like that".

Criminy, I'd get fired at work if I made a statement implying something like that! Does make me wonder about his thought patterns, though.

[sohotrightnow]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhedESQJhAA[/youtube]

This would have been my response, around 20 seconds in.

[Sonny]

We all learn our social skills and manners over time, and sometimes by making mistakes. So I told him "No. That had nothing to do with it. Let's stay away from religion today, the club handbook doesn't allow any comments like that".

You had a valuable chance to teach him a "life lesson" and that's your only response? Why didn't you tell him exactly why the other team members were selected as team captains over him? Why didn't you tell him what he could do to improve his standing with the coaches & his other teammates? Maybe, just maybe, he would learned a little more from the situation instead of focusing blame elsewhere and become a more productive member of the team moving forward.

[Beta]

I love how (ironically) so many people are anti-semetic yet...watch the movie Borat and laugh at how stupid he is...when in fact...they make essentially the same comments...but in a different accent.

Man I love stupid people...they make my day brighter.

[cjwilhelmi]

I'm with Sonny on this one.

[Zeuslax]

I love hearing Micheal Savage address the topic of the American perception of the "weak Jew". Our TV and movie experiences have shaped so many opinions on the personality of American Jews.

[StrykerFSU]

Michael Savage is not a good person.

[Zeuslax]

Michael Savage is not a good person.

Couldn't agree more....and If he hates SF so much, MOVE for GOD's sake!