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Running head: DIVERSITY AND CRISES IN HIGHER ED

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Responding to Issues of Diversity and Crisis in Higher Education The University of Oklahoma

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Responding to Issues of Diversity and Crisis in Higher Education Diversity is an ongoing subject for debate in academics, athletics and in the world in general. There are many different ways that someone can be discriminated against. Although racism is very prominent in today’s society, diversity is not only based on race. People can be discriminated because of their ethnicity, their gender, their socioeconomic status, their religion, and their sexual orientation. When someone is being discriminated against, they are not given the same opportunities that their counterpart is given, and they are treated differently than their counterpart. Racial and cultural diverse educational environments are beneficial to learning development in higher education. (Vanover, 2013). In athletics, there is a world of issues concerning diversity. Why don’t we see more people of color in higher positions? Why don’t we see more women employed by athletic departments at universities, or for professional sports teams? Why are men’s sports more publicized, and commercialized than female sports? All of these questions are issues of diversity, and all of these questions can be solved if we did not discriminate against people based on the color of their skin, their gender, or the background that they come from. There are multiple definitions of the word crisis. Crises can be health related, literary related, or change related. It could be considered, “a turning point for better or worse in an acute disease or fever”. It can be “a paroxysmal attack of pain or disordered function” or “an emotionally significant event or radical change of status in a person’s life. It could be “the decisive moment in a play”. And finally, it could be “an unstable or crucial time or state of affairs in which a decisive change is impending” or “the distinct possibility of a highly unstable outcome” and “a situation that has reached a critical phrase”. (Webster’s Dictionary). All of these definitions come from the Merriam Webster Dictionary. Although these are considered the actual

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definitions of the word, people can create their own definition of a crisis, and consider their own personal situations crises. In higher education, a crisis could be multiple different things, ranging from budget cuts, debt, natural disasters, shootings, and scandals. In this paper, I am going to analyze how universities should address crisis, more specifically Division I institutions who receive national attention when a scandal happens, and also how issues of diversity play into the scandals. The scandals that I will be analyzing, have underlying issues within diversity at the institutions. I will be discussing examples from the University of Oklahoma, Virginia Tech University and Michigan State University. I will also be discussing diversity issues within athletic departments at institutions of higher education. Each institution underwent their own specific crises and dealt with it in their own way. The issues of diversity that these scandals revolved around were racism and sexism. The ways that universities deal with crisis are solely on the university itself. Scandals unfold so quickly, that sometimes they feel like they need to address it right away without getting into the heart of the problem. Some of these crisis management skills can be considered a “quick fix”, while others implement new and improved ways on how to handle certain situations, and how to better the climate of the university as a whole. Some people question the values and morals of the university after scandals occur, so it is up to the university on how they choose to respond to these incidents. It is also important to see how universities handle these issues when they have something to do with diversity and inclusion. In a recent study from the Gallup and Knight Foundation, students have called for administrators to put more of an investment into diversity initiatives. Out of over 3,000 student interviewed, both from private and public universities, 53% of them stated

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that diversity is more important than free speech. (Bauer-Wolf, March 2018.) To look even further into this data, white men seemed to favor free speech more than any other group. Because universities are becoming more diverse, leaders within these universities are calling for more positions and programs that revolve around diversity and inclusion. Starting off with the University of Oklahoma, a racist chant was caught on tape, making national news. A fraternity SAE (Sigma Alpha Epsilon), was caught singing a chant using a racial slur on their way to a date party. The chant referenced lynching, while the students were seen pumping their fists, and celebrating while singing it. Soon after the video was released on social media, it reached national outbreak. The day after the video was released, OU president David L. Boren expelled the two students, Parker Rice, and Levi Pettit, who were involved in the video singing the chant. He also shut down that chapter of Sigma Alpha Epsilon. News outlets from local areas, as well as national news anchors such as CNN, and MSNBC were at the campus conducting interviews. Boren released a statement conduced at the members of the fraternity, “You are disgraceful….Real Sooners are not racist. Real Sooners are not bigots. Real Sooners believe in equal opportunity. Real Sooners treat all people with respect.” (Strippling, 2015). He then severed all ties with the chapter of SAE, and called for the house to be shut down and all members to remove their belongings by the next day. Prior to this scandal happening, a football player (Joe Mixon) was charged for assaulting a female student off campus. There was video evidence, which had not been released until a few years after the incident occurred. When news broke that Joe Mixon had punched a woman in the face, he was suspended from the team for that season, and was allowed to return for the next season. Head football coach Bob Stoops, Athletic Director Joe Castiglione, and President David L. Boren all had seen the video shortly after the incident occurred. They came up with their own

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punishment for Mixon, which he then served, and was allowed to return back to football activities. The university received major backlash after the video was actually released, because it was hard to watch. There were critics complaining that OU took the racist chant more serious than the assault. Mixon was still allowed to play, and was allowed to stay on campus, taking classes. Rice and Pettit were expelled right after the incident of the racist chant. Although what the students in the video did was unacceptable and inappropriate, they were freshmen, they had to have learned that chant from older members of that Fraternity, so for them to be expelled might have seemed harsh to some, however it did exemplify the zero tolerance that OU has for racism. (Gardener, 2016.) The football team was also seen protesting the racist video, coming together to fight the racism, but they did nothing when the assault video was released of their fellow teammate. It was later released that the young woman that Mixon punched was making racial slurs at him and his friends, which in fact is inappropriate, but she still did not deserve to be punched so bad that she required facial surgery. So does OU not care about violence against women, but they do care about racist slurs? Or was it an issue involving a star athlete, so he received a lesser punishment? Both are major issues in itself, but it makes you think about what is valued more by universities, when the situation involves athletics, and a star player, and “normal” students. On a side note, another chapter of SAE, but at Yale University, an Ivy League Institution, refused to let a Black girl into one of their parties in 2015. This can tell us more about the fraternity as a whole, and maybe the release of this video made other chapters of the fraternity calm down their racist antics, so they would not be the next ones in the spotlight.

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After the news from the video broke, OU made a mandatory diversity training for all student leaders on campus to attend, and pass down information to their peers. Shortly after that, a required mandatory diversity training was made for all incoming freshman. Freshman can either take the training when they attend Camp Crimson, (a camp during the summer for incoming freshman to get acquainted with the University) or they can do a three-hour training during their first semester at OU. They also introduced a new position, Vice President for the University Community to try to assist OU in becoming more inclusive. OU hired Jabar Shumate, an OU alumni in this position to oversee all diversity programs within the university, including university admissions. He works closely with the Office of Student Affairs as well as with the President, and Deans of the University to make OU as inclusive as possible. He also works to make faculty, students, and staff more diverse. Since Vice President Shumate’s arrival, OU has won the “Insight into Diversity, Diversity: Higher Education Excellence in Diversity Award” two consecutive years in a row. OU was also in the news again recently because a member of the Board of Regents made a comment saying “homosexuality is wrong”. Kirk Humphreys was the vice chairman of the Board of Regents. He was on a radio show, and during a heated discussion, he compared homosexuality to pedophilia. (Jaschik, 2017). The Queer Student Association at OU asked for Humphreys to step down from his position. He later apologized for his comments, and resigned from the board. There was an email sent out to all students, faculty, and staff, stating the the University condemned these comments made by Humphreys. With all of these different incidents occurring, OU had their own responses to such events, and has since tried to become more inclusive, by implementing new policies, new positions and higher standards.

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As of March 2018, Virginia Tech is now in the spotlight for a video that was released from the women’s lacrosse team singing a racial slur. The song repeatedly saying a racial slur was recorded on snapchat, with predominately white women singing it. The head coach made a statement saying that he was sorry on the team’s behalf, and that this incident will be a “teaching moment” (Bauer-Wolf, 2018). Lacrosse is not a very “known” collegiate sport, so it has not been involved with issues of diversity. Lacrosse in general is also a predominately white sport. Lacrosse was more club-based and even when it was included in colleges, the players had to buy a lot of their own equipment and pay the fees, so those who come from more poverty stricken backgrounds, or lower income families probably could not afford such things. As of right now, no HBCU has a lacrosse team, and has not had one since the 1980’s. An ESPN analyst, Quint Kessenrich has been calling for more diversity in the sport, and nothing has changed. With the release of this video, it only adds more to the reason why diversity training should be required at all institutions of higher education, as well as a training on the negative effects of social media. These issues would not be “teaching moments” if institutions would be more practice in having conversations surrounding diversity. Diversity is an important topic in general, but has a lot of backlash in athletics. Athletics in higher education should be fun, competitive, and equal. There is so much commercialization of college sports, surrounding men’s basketball and football, that we sometimes forget the more important things going on in athletics. We do not see representation of women, or people of color in administrative positions, or head coaching positions, and we have Title IX cases at multiple different universities. Title IX is a law meant to protect against gender discrimination, which includes sexual misconduct as well. Athletic organizations need to become more open to change, and they need to have a bigger representation of women, and/or people of color.

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Starting within athletics, according to an article written by Kenneth Cooper in 2012, only 7 percent of Athletic Directors in Division 1 College Sports are black, and only 10 percent are women. (Buzuvis, 2015). Moving on to diversity in coaching staffs, specifically college football, we do not see many coaches, or faculty/staff of color. As far as head coaching goes, there is a significantly lower amount of black head coaches in college football than white coaches. Currently, there are only 14 black head football coaches in the FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision). (Johnson, 2017). There are 129 FBS coaches all together. Because of this lack of diversity in coaching staff, athletes may have a hard time adjusting, and there can be lack of different perspectives on coaching styles. Women fill less than 25 percent of head coach and athletic director positions in intercollegiate athletics in The United States. In 2012, there were only 215 athletic directors that are females, only 36 in Division One. However, there are 133 in Division Three. (Buzuvis, 2015). There is also a very small number of women who are on the coaching staff of a men’s athletic team. We see men coaching female sports, such as basketball, softball, volleyball, etc. but how often do we see a woman coaching a men sports team? Slim to none. On the administration side of things, about one third of administrative positions are held by women in athletics. Women also lose interest in applying for these types of jobs because of the bias, and the misconception of women in athletics in today’s society. They have less desire to apply for these jobs because they feel like they will be beaten out by a man anyway, so why even apply? Because of cultural and societal norms, women are more seen as caretakers for their children and families. Coaching is an extensive position that requires a lot of their time. According to history and society, sports have always been more “masculine”. Women’s interests in sports were disregarded. Although Title IX has been around for 40 years, we still do

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not see women’s sports getting the same attention and support that men’s sports do. Also, after Title IX was created, ironically, the amount of women leaders decreased. The amount decreased because of the commercialization of Title IX, and more men became head coaches for women sports. Women were now seen as unqualified to coach a team, and were treated as if they would not be able to win games. Women who are hired as head coaches are more credentialed than men are, and still lose the job to their male counterpart. At Michigan State University, sports doctor Larry Nasser (also the USA Gymnastics doctor) was accused of countless acts of sexual assault on young gymnasts. Michigan State alleged that they were not aware of such allegations, but several reports and testimonies from victims say that they were aware of what Nasser was doing. In light of all this information coming out, the president and athletic director at MSU have resigned. There were also calls for the university’s general counsel to step down. Apparently, when the university was investigating Nasser, they did not want to shed light on the current situation, but to help build a legal defense against the number of lawsuits that were anticipated. The University was also criticized on how the handled the information when they were being investigated by the US Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, saying that they violated title IX. (Brown, 2018). Students at Michigan State were devastated when the news came out. People are asking for transparency throughout investigations that will come in the future by the NCAA, and also more education to prevent sexual assault. (Kelderman, 2018). Because of the resignation of the president, this put a decentralized climate on the campus. Because of events that happened at Penn State University, (another sexual misconduct scandal) one would think that universities would be proactive so these types of incidents do not occur at their universities. So why do these things continue to happen?

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People are trying to change the climate of the university in general, by having a more diverse faculty/staff and having a diverse population of students. One of the best ways to solve issues of lack of diversity, is to talk about it. There are also other ways that diversity can be implemented at Universities. One way can be for there to be more diversity workshops, or classes offered. When we start talking about the issue, we come together to figure out different solutions for the problems, and we see different perspectives and opinions. We all have to be open minded, and treat others as we want to be treated. People are not open to change, but once they start learning about different cultures, and start listening to their peers, we would see a world of difference. Diversity is a topic that some do not prefer to talk about, but the more we do talk about it, we are more likely to come up with solutions to issues we have concerning diversity, and the more comfortable people are going to feel to speak out when they have been discriminated against. Also, institutions can learn from other institutions when a scandal or a crisis does occur, and try to be proactive so such incidents do not happen at their universities.

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Bauer-Wolf, J. (2018). Students value diversity, inclusion more than free expression, study says. Chronicle of Higher Education.

Bauer-Wolf, J. (2018). A Racial Slur in a White Sport. Chronicle of Higher Education.

Brown, S. (2018). At Michigan State, A Shaken Campus Struggles Through Its Shame. Chronicle of Higher Education

Erin E. Buzuvis, Barriers to Leadership for Women in College Athletics, in INTRODUCTION TO INTERCOLLEGIATE ATHLETICS (Eddie Comeaux, ed., 2015)

Gardener, L. (2016). What's the Best Way to Lead After a Racial Incident on Campus? Chronicle of Higher Education.

Jaschick, S. (2017). Anger Over Oklahoma Regent's Anti-Gay Comments. Chronicle of Higher Education Johnson, R (2017, August 9). CFB’s lack of black coaches is the result of a flawed pipeline

Kelderman, E. (2018). Michigan State Trustee Calls for University's General Counsel to Resign. Chronicle of Higher Education

Stripling, J. (2015). Oklahoma President's Swift Action on Racist Video Carries Risks. Chronicle of Higher Education.

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Vanover, E. T, (2013). Academic Perspective in Higher Education Journal: The Impact of Intercollegiate Athletics in Higher Education.

Crisis. (n.d). Retreived March 10. 2018, from http://merriam-webster.com/dictionary/crisis...