Rutgers Professor - Not Racist at all...

Rutgers prof under fire for comments about student athletes

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."

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Conservative Bloggers Comments:
Ok, maybe I am a little dense. I have certainly been accused of that by my liberal friends before and will be in the future. I just don't see what the hubbub is all about. Oh my God, I am finding myself on the side of an educator. That doesn't happen too often. Anyway, this Professor says:

"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."

What exactly in there is racist? He wants us to give the scholarships to kids who are striving to be better educated and not to athletes who are dumber that tree stumps (but good for the football program). Again, what is racist or inappropriate with that opinion? I am a big football fan but can certainly see the wisdom of his question. What needs to occur is to begin punishing schools that do not achieve specific achievement in test scores and graduation for their scholarship athletes (all sports). Giving a student athlete a scholarship to play football (or any other sport) and then using their physical talents for the Universities gain without insure everything possible is done to get that athlete a degree (and is actually educated) is where Universities are failing. The reality is that the current system is more racist that the Professors comments. Just look at the graduation rates for many schools and their minority athletes. Who should be accused of racism now?