HBCUs Could Benefit From New Discrimination Lawsuit Against the NCAA
By: Baigen Seawell
For years, the NCAA has been the center of attention when it comes to the practices (or lack thereof) that greatly affect athletic programs as it relates to “the Little Guys,” or the small institutions that don’t generate ridiculously large revenues. In particular, HBCUs have fallen in the category of the Little Guys.
In 2015, UGA operated under a budget that allotted $6.4 million for a coaching staff of 10 people. Meanwhile Savannah State University Operated under a $4.5 million total athletics budget. These budgets do not allow wiggle room for institutions to spend on extensive tutoring catered just for athletic programs or facilities to “blossom” their academic progress through their seasons. Where budgets don’t fill in the gaps for student-athletes, they make up for it in the academic relationships that HBCUs provide to their students.
NPR reports that attorney, Beth Fegan, believes that HBCUs are being held to an irrational standard.
“And so HBCUs are already starting at lower graduation success rates, lower academic progress rates,” Fegan said, “and yet they’re being held to the same benchmarks as predominantly white institutions who don’t have the mission [HBCUs do]. The NCAA should be supporting the mission of HBCUs, not penalizing them for it.”
The mission of HBCUs serves students that fall under first-generation, low income status and the rationale behind the suit is that the NCAA is forcing these institutions to adhere to rules that are not applicable to them.
Standards such as the Academic Progress Rate (APR), which has been debunked due to inflated rates reported at institutions (HBCU or Non-HBCU) are the expectation to follow. The Graduation Success Rate (GSR), is also an NCAA created model to track graduation rates of student-athletes, even though many of them who go pro or drop out are counted in this equation to inflate the numbers.
HBCUs don’t meet these standards for numerous reasons, reasons that can be found at PWIs if you look hard enough (they just do a good job at hiding it, see the UNC Scandal). But these penalties and standards don’t change the rate of graduation for either party…
However only one side receives drastic effects to its programs due to the class system that exists in the world of collegiate athletics.
Solutions that can dismantle this system are abolishing the GSR and APR, and following the Federal Graduation Rate (FGR), which is the Department of Education’s Standard for all institutions to follow. If this happens, the Dept. of Ed can better assist and possibly fund programs to make sure this doesn’t fall to the wayside for student-athletes and students alike.
This proposal was provided by the Drake Group, an organization dedicated to reforming college sport. While they don’t explicitly state HBCUs, these types of solutions are calling to the exact schools that need them most.
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