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November 19. 2003
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Sidelines Show Hiring Injustice Issue is Jobs, not
African-American coaches deserve chance to star C o n s e r v a t i v e J u d g e s
fall, it’s quite a different story
Brand points out that only four heavily dependent on a limited, old-
On the sidelines, and in the o f o f the 117 head coaches in Division boys netw ork and is often done “in
fices o f collegiate athletic depart 1A are black and, excluding the a week or a w eekend from a short I ist
ments, it’s still largely a m atter o f historically black colleges and uni o f candidates know n only to a
the leadership positions being re versities, ju st 15 out o f 547 colle closed circle o f confidants.”
served for white males.
g iate head football coaches are
C ollege presidents, he says, are
T h a t's unjust, and inexcusable. African-American.
the ones to change that process.
A m o n g th o s e m a k in g th a t
The dearth o f black and Latino They "m ust not yield to the pres
charge— and w anting to change coaches d o esn ’t just exist in foot sures o f m aking quick decisions,
things for the better— is M yles ball. O f nearly 14,000 head coach even when m edia coverage is in
Brand, the new president o f the ing positions (excluding historically tense, if that haste excludes a full
and fair hearing forqualified m inor
ity candidates.”
His proposal is that the hiring,
for example, o f a head footbal I coach
should involve a search com m ittee
representing the athletics depart
m ent, faculty, adm inistrators, and
perhaps alum ni and others from
outside the institution. Its jo b w ould
be to develop a diverse pool o f
candidates, and recom m end the
three o r four best qualified to the
National C ollegiate A thletic A sso black colleges and universities) in president. The president would then
ciation, the giant association over the N CA A, few er than 8(X) are A f interview the finalists and, in con
seeing intercollegiate athletics.
rican-A m erican m ales and few er sultation with the institution’s ath
Brand, the form er president o f than 200 are A frican-A m erican fe letics director, either m ake the final
the U niversity o f Indiana, says males.
decision o r recom m end that candi
bluntly that too often, “qualified
Furtherm ore, excluding the his date to the institution’s trustees.
minority candidates w ho have d em torically black colleges and univer
B rand’s point is that som ething
onstrated ... talent, determ ination, sities, there are only 29 African- must be tried now. African A m eri
and effort have been figuratively A m erican male and three African- cans have long show n they can
stiff-arm ed by a process that pre A m erican fem ale directors o f ath star on the playing fields. They
vents them from competing forhead letics am ong in stitu tio n s in all deserve the chance to star on the
coaching positions o r jo b s in se N CA A divisions.
sidelines, too.
nior athletic adm inistration.”
Brand says that much o f the prob
As he says, “This is not a prob
A gain, statistics help tell the lem is rooted in the hiring process lem to be addressed next year. It is
story, and they are startling.
for these positions, which now is a problem for each cam pus to ad
dress now. W e’ve waited far too
long.”
M arc
M okiai .
by
Now that the T hanksgiving holi
days are w ithin sight, the annual
fall frenzy surrounding college foot
ball has shifted into high gear.
College football, w hetherplayed
before crow ds o f a few thousand
nestling on w ooden bleachers or a
hundred th ousand roarin g fans
packed into gigantic stadium s, goes
a long way tow ard displaying the
variety o f the A m erican populace
itself, and the variety o f its sources
o f talent, too.
Unlike in the past, when black
players were alm ost universally
barred from the tw o leadership
"thinking positions” in football—
quarterback on offense, middle line
backer on d efen se— to d ay , it's
largely talent that w ins out. The
guy out there on the field calling the
form ation's signals is likely to be
black as well as white.
Statistics help tell the story: 43
percent of all varsity players in D i
vision I A, com prised o f the largest
117 colleges, are black; and their
num bers are rising.
T hat’s on the field.
But on the sidelines, w here the
head coaches and the assistant
coaches pace up and dow n w atch
ing their team s' fortunes rise and
Excluding the historically black
colleges and universities, just 15
out o f547 collegiate head football
coaches are African American.
Marc Morial is President and
CEO o f the N ational Urban
League.
by U.S. R ep . A lbert W ynn
On Capitol Hill much is being
made of the Senate’s so called
‘reverse filibuster’ to encourage
action on the Bush Administration's
right-wingjudicial nominationscur-
rently being blocked by Demo
crats.
The U.S. Senate held all night
sessions to push for confirmation
of ultra-conservative nominees
such as Judges Janice Rogers
Brown, Carolyn Kuhl, Charles Pickering, and Priscilla Owens,
who are all strongly opposed by the Black Caucus and the civil
rights community.
Meanwhile, the Department of Labor reported promising
signs that the economy is rebounding. But what does this really
mean for the African-American community?
While it is encouraging that the economy is gaining jobs rather
than losing, in the grand scheme of things this Administration still
has a long way to go to regain the nearly 2.4 million jobs that have
been lost since the economy began to slump.
Recently, The Washington Post reported that African-Ameri
can males have a 59.9 percent employment rate. To some this
may seem encouraging, but compared to a 70.3 percent employ
ment rate of white men, 75 percent for Hispanic men, and 70.1
percent for Asian-American men, it is clear that in the race for
jobs, African Americans are falling behind.
Congress needs to focus on helping smal I businesses to create
more jobs to address the disproportionate rate of unemployment
in the African-American community, not on confirming right-
wing judges determined to turn back the clock on civil rights, civil
liberties, and Affirmative Action.
Congress can and should do better.
Congressman Albert Wynn is a member o f the Congres
sional Black Caucus and represents Maryland’s 4'h Con
gressional District.
Racial & Ethnic Approaches to Community Health
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Salsa
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(larch of G rid
4635 NE 9tk Ave.
Whtoker Track
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W3d Oats Market
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Mallory Averne
Qratas Oairh
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Tues
Walk Io Ron
Walk Io Ran
6:30pm Thorne
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irvnpoa
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D m l* ! Notarial
Cbrcfc
1 2 * A C ^ m r ih
Aerobics
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503-413-1850 Please receive approval from your doctor before beginning exercise class
♦ Walking group meets inside Lloyd Center in front of Sears
Esa
African American Health Coalition, Inc.
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