Black Student-athletes Research Articles

Faculty and Male Student Athletes: Racial Differences in the Environmental Predictors of Academic Achievement

Studies have examined the impact of environmental variables on academic achievement among student athletes in the revenue-generating sports of men’s basketball and football. However, while evidence concerning the positive impact of male student athlete and faculty interaction is virtually unequivocal, we are not certain whether the benefits accruing from particular types of interaction vary across different racial/ethnic groups. This study explores the relationship between male Black and White student athletes and faculty as well as the impact of specific forms of student athlete-faculty interaction on academic achievement. Data are drawn from the Cooperative Institutional Research Program’s 2000 Freshman Survey and 2004 Follow-Up Survey. The sample includes 1031 White and 739 Black football and basketball players attending predominantly White institutions. Regression results indicate that the impact of the contact or interaction is to some extent contingent upon the specific nature of the interaction for Black and White male student athletes. The findings also suggest that Black and White male student athletes did not benefit equally from their interactions with faculty. Finally, the implications of these findings are discussed among student athletes, faculty and student affairs leaders in order to improve male Black and White student athlete-faculty communication, as well as enrich their overall college experience.

Success Despite the Image

College athletics are at the forefront of higher education. Consequently, student-athletes are visible figures on campus. Given this visibility, coupled with the overwhelmingly negative characterizations of student-athletes, the objective of this paper is to examine the extent to which images (both positive and negative) affect a Black student-athlete's academic experience on campus. Utilizing Scheurich and Young's (1997) four levels of racism schema, the academic experiences of 17 successful Black student-athletes at Division I institutions on the West Coast are chronicled and analyzed. The participants were selected not only because of their success in their respective sport but more importantly, because they demonstrated success in the classroom. The primary research questions guiding the study are: How do academically successful African American male student-athletes experience and perceive their academic journey amidst negative characterizations? Can student-athletes' racialized incidences subsequently be classified according to the four levels of racism schema? While the participants were accomplished students, all had experienced attacks on their intellect from a variety of college personnel including faculty, academic counselors, classmates, and teammates; attacks they felt were consequences of the negative images of Black student-athletes and nothing they had personally created for themselves. The implications of these findings should be discussed among coaches, faculty, student affairs leaders, and others who frequently interact with student-athletes and are committed to creating more equitable educational environments for all students.

Studying is lame when he got game: racial stereotypes and the discouragement of Black student-athletes from schoolwork

Positive stereotypes appear favorable but may have negative consequences for the targets of such beliefs. Because such stereotypes often have prescriptive properties, stereotype-confirming behavior among targets may be perceived as especially appropriate and subsequently rewarded. Furthermore, targets may be actively encouraged to engage in such “natural” behaviors despite potentially negative outcomes. White participants assumed the role of a career counselor and offered guidance to a Black or White student who excelled in a stereotypic domain (athletics). Male participants who personally endorsed positive racial stereotypes discouraged the Black student (but not the White student) from academic-related goals and behaviors. The implications of such diverging guidance on the perpetuation of intergroup differences in status and achievement are discussed.

The Effects of Higher Admission Standards on NCAA Student-Athletes: An Analysis of Proposition 16

This study examines the effect of an increase in minimum admissions standards on college enrollment and graduation rates of student-athletes. In 1996, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) enacted Proposition 16, which increased admission standards for freshmen student-athletes at Division I schools, in an effort to improve graduation rates. Results indicate that Proposition 16 increased graduation rates significantly for Black student-athletes, and had no significant impact on graduation rates for White student-athletes. Results also indicate that graduation rates declined for Black student-athletes at Division II schools, which may have been driven by students transferring to Division I. As a result of the higher admission standards, Division I schools changed recruiting patterns and relied less on freshmen student-athletes, particularly Black student-athletes, to fill scholarships. Even though fewer Black freshmen student-athletes enrolled in Division I schools, the overall number of Black student-athletes did not change, suggesting that a greater proportion of transfer students into Division I schools were Black.

Black Football Players on a Predominantly White College Campus: Psychosocial and Emotional Realities of the Black College Athlete Experience

Black student-athletes have been the focus of study regarding academic and psychosocial adjustment to college since the 1960s. Although recent literature generally reports higher graduation rates for Black student-athletes compared to their nonathlete peers, little attention has been given to their psychosocial experiences on predominantly White college campuses. The current study explored the social experiences of a small group of Black football players attending a predominantly White university in the northeastern United States. A qualitative “grounded theory” methodology was employed for data collection and analysis and a coding system was created centered on the main areas of team, campus, and city experiences. Findings revealed that the Black players felt isolated, rejected, and mistrustful of their Black and White classmates and teammates. They also felt unfairly judged by their coaches and campus community. Other team, campus, and city issues were revealed, all of which negatively influenced these players' emotional and educational experiences. Implications for recruitment, retention, and educational policy are discussed.

Faculty and male student athletes: racial differences in the environmental predictors of academic achievement

Studies have examined the impact of environmental variables on academic achievement among student athletes in the revenue‐generating sports of men’s basketball and football. However, while evidence concerning the positive impact of male student athlete and faculty interaction is virtually unequivocal, we are not certain whether the benefits accruing from particular types of interaction vary across different racial/ethnic groups. This study explores the relationship between male Black and White student athletes and faculty as well as the impact of specific forms of student athlete–faculty interaction on academic achievement. Data are drawn from the Cooperative Institutional Research Program’s 2000 Freshman Survey and 2004 Follow‐Up Survey. The sample includes 1031 White and 739 Black football and basketball players attending predominantly White institutions. Regression results indicate that the impact of the contact or interaction is to some extent contingent upon the specific nature of the interaction for Black and White male student athletes. The findings also suggest that Black and White male student athletes did not benefit equally from their interactions with faculty. Finally, the implications of these findings are discussed among student athletes, faculty and student affairs leaders in order to improve male Black and White student athlete–faculty communication, as well as enrich their overall college experience.

Innocent Until Proven Innocent

As the national media descended on Durham, North Carolina, in wake of public accusations of rape against three Duke Lacrosse student athletes, much of the discourse remained mired in its own shock and awe. Ignoring, if not erasing, histories of sexual violence involving White men and Black women while focusing on the problems plaguing college athletics, the media, and the numerous online defenders of the players used this instance to rearticulate tropes of White power, imagining the case as yet another assault on White masculinity. Beyond examining these deployed fictions and the denials of the possibility of guilt, given the player’s Whiteness, sport of choice, educational institution, and class status, this article explores the ways in which their student athlete identities were seen as either meaningless or evidence of innocence, especially in juxtaposition to the discursive articulation of the criminalized Black male student athlete.

Framing Possibilities: Representations of Black Student Athletes in Toronto Media

This article draws upon a weekly feature in the Toronto Star newspaper, the “High School Report,” to explore the representations of black male student athletes over the school year 2003/2004. These media representations contribute to an understanding of the wider social reality of student athletes. Our investigation points to the fact that the media present black male students compared to their white counterparts as giving priority to athletics over academics. By ignoring the structural inequities they face in schools and society, the media contribute to a popular discourse which frames the social and educational possibilities of black male students in limiting ways. Cet article tire ses renseignements de l'article hebdomadaire du journal Toronto Star: le Rapport sur les écoles secondaires “High School Report,” , pour examiner la représentation des athlètes-étudiants noirs pendant l'année scolaire 2003-2004. Ces représentations dans la presse contribuent à la compréhension d'une réalité plus large dans la société pour les athlètes-étudiants. Notre examen pointe au fait que la presse représente les athlètes-étudiants noirs comme plus inclinés aux sports qu'aux études scolaires que les athlètes-étudiants blancs. En ignorant les iniquités structurelles auxquelles les athlètes-étudiants doivent faire face à l'école comme dans la société, la presse se donne au discours populaire qui encadre les possibilités sociales et éducationnelles des étudiants noirs d'une façon limitée.

The Affirmative Action Athlete Dilemma

have played an integral role in the shaping of Western society. From the Olympians in ancient Greece, to the proliferation of college games thrust into our living rooms on television on Saturday afternoons, physical fitness largely defines an ideal of Western society. Today, sports have become a billion-dollar industry that profits from university leagues and competitions. The commercialization of sports is so dramatic that top athletes come across as gods, or at least as super-humans. However, before today's stars began serving as mega-marketing machines, black athletes played a significant part in American history, helping to mold race relations and changing perceptions of blacks. They also offered profound emotional gratification and a sense of hope to many African Americans and the integration of college and professional sports has played a dramatic role in the civil rights movement. Since the Supreme Court has upheld affirmative action admissions policies at the University of Michigan, the black population can collectively exhale. With affirmative action toppling at universities in California and Texas, it was only natural to assume Michigan was next. Passed by a slim 5 to 4 margin, race as a component in admissions policies was retained. That said, I would like to focus on a figure of peculiar irony in the unspoken margins of the affirmative action controversy: the black student athlete. One of the most compelling facts is that at most of the schools where affirmative action

Panopticonics: The Control and Surveillance of Black Female Athletes in a Collegiate Athletic Program

This article analyzes black female student athletes' participation in an elite collegiate athletic program and shows how the program maximizes black female participants' athletic and academic potential through surveillance, control, and discipline. The program instills in black female athletes a model of womanhood whereby they come to expect and achieve academic and athletic success, but does so at the expense of their autonomy and freedom from surveillance. Ultimately, this analysis shows the promise and peril of panopticonics as educational technology.

“There’s No Race On The Playing Field”

Contrary to patterns in the public opinion literature, the authors predicted White and Black athletes would agree at similar levels that racial and ethnic discrimination is no longer a problem. Using survey data collected from 533 intercollegiate student athletes as part of the 1996 Progress in College/Social and Group Experiences study, they found White and Black athletes did not differ significantly in their perceptions of discrimination. The authors investigated interrelationships among perceptions of discrimination and athletic and racial identity centrality, proposing that athletic identity dampens racial identity and perceptions of discrimination. They found Black student athletes strongly identified with athletics reported low levels of racial identity centrality. In contrast, White student athletes strongly identified with athletics reported high levels of racial identity centrality. Finally, among Black student athletes, high levels of athletic identity centrality were positively associated with the perception that racial and ethnic discrimination is no longer a problem.

The Academic Performance of Black Student Athletes at Highly Ranked Universities

The Academic Performance of Black Student Athletes at Highly Ranked Universities

Five Year Evaluation of the Student Diversity Program: A Retrospective Quasi-Experiment

The Student Diversity Program (SDP) initially delivered academic and social support to Black student athletes, but expanded to include a more diverse group of students at risk of disqualification. To assess whether this program increased retention, we examined graduation rates and ending GPAs of students in four SDP cohorts from 1994 and 1995 ( n = 39), comparing them to matched students who were not in the program ( n = 434), over five years of academic progress. We matched these comparison students on semester of enrollment in CSUF, ethnic group, sex, age, transfer status (FTF or Transfer), and cumulative GPA at the end of their first semester. SDP students graduated at twice the rate of the comparable students after five years. SDP student's GPA of last record was not however different from that of comparison students. It appears that the Student Diversity Program achieves its goal of delivering academic support, and is effective not only with Black athletes but with a more diverse group of at-risk students as well.

Black High School Students' Participation in School-Sponsored Sports Activities: Effects on School Engagement and Achievement

Myths abound about the role of sports in schooling, particularly for Black student athletes. The literature affords little guidance on the specific relationship between participation in schoolsponsored sports and various outcomes for Black adolescents. Using a nationally representative sample, this study examines: (a) the effects of sports participation on various school engagement and student self evaluative variables, controlling for important background characteristics such as SES and gender; (b) the potential differential effects of sports participation for Black students; and (c) the degree to which sports participation affects Black students' academic achievement. Sports participation was found to improve the school engagement and academic self confidence of alI student athletes. Moreover, a positive intervening relationship was found between sports participation and academic achievement. INTRODUCTION As a key part of the social and cultural fabric of human life, sports permeate social realities at many levels, both globally and individually (Snyder & Spreitzer,1989). Few institutions in U.S. society are unaffected by sports (Edwards, 1973). Values reflected in athletic competition-striving for excellence, fair play, sportsmanship, hard work, and commitment to a goal-are inextricably linked to our nation's mainstream cultural values. Although much has been writter_ about the role of sports in society in a broad sense (Blanchard,1995; Lapchick,1986; Rees & Miracle,1986), the social function of professional and collegiate sports has often been the primary focus of this inquiry. The research literature affords little guidance on the specific relationship between participation in high school athletics and school-related outcomes for adolescents. Even less is known about specific benefits for African American students. To complicate matters, it is not uncommon for research on high school athletics to be combined with examination of other extracurricular activities in attempts to investigate their effects upon schooling (Crain,1981; Holland & Andre,1987; Otto,1982). The assumption that most extracurricular activities affect students similarly lacks empirical evidence. Although past research on sports and schooling has found small, positive effects for participation in athletics on various student outcome measures such as grade point averages, methodological problems have marred the results of many of these studies (Trent & Braddock, 1992). Much of the recent scholarly attention paid to the topic of sports and schooling has been theoretical and philosophical in its focus (Arnold,1997; Sadovskii & Sadovskii,1993). These studies have attempted to portray sports as valued human practices that have many analogues in other areas of social life. Further, they often examine the heuristic and moral qualities of sport, and focus on the degree to which sports reaffirm and break down social norms. Arnold contends, for example, that, like most social conventions, sport is valueneutral-that is, it can be viewed as either good or bad. On the one hand, sports teach perseverance and encourage respect for rules, fair play and teamwork. Indeed, Sadovskii and Sadovskii, in their study of the connections between sports and mathematics, assert that athletics can have a beneficial effect on students' intellectual growth, states of mind, and will power. However, these authors contend that sports can also breed rugged individualism, vanity, intense rivalries, intolerance, and a win-at-all-costs attitude. Purpose of the Study In light of the dearth of empirical research exploring the effects of participation in high school sports upon educational outcome measures for adolescents, the present study sets out to address three aspects of this topic. The first stage of the analysis explores the effects of participation in high school sports on various school engagement and student self-evaluative factors while holding constant important background characteristics such as socioeconomic status (SES) and gender. …

Rent-seeking in higher education: Voting on academic requirements

Research on U.S. college athletics suggests that voting on academic eligibility rules is motivated by rent-seeking behavior. Furthermore, academic eligibility rules have been criticized as being racially biased — more blacks than whites fail to meet the requirements. This paper examines whether the potential racial bias impacted voting on a specific academic eligibility rule known as Proposition 42. Evidence of customer discrimination suggests revenue generating differentials between black and white college basketball players. If rent-seeking behavior motivates voting on academic eligibility rules, then the racial composition of recruits and fans may be determinants of Proposition 42 voting. The results show that schools with more black fans were more likely to oppose Proposition 42; however, schools with a larger pool of potential black recruits tended to favor it, perhaps due to a comparative advantage in recruiting black student-athletes.

The black student athlete: The colonized black body

This article views the black student athlete as colonized Black Body. It uses an internal colonial model to place the experiences black student athletes encounter at predominantly white National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Institutions into a broader theoretical framework. This theoretical approach draws upon the similarities that exist between black student athletes and internally colonized people. The conclusion of this article is that the Black Body is again internally colonized by these institutions for physical exploitation.

Race, Revenues, and College Basketball

Customer discrimination may result in racial differences in the marginal revenue products generated by workers. College basketball data allow for direct comparisons of the racial differences in the marginal revenues generated by players. This article compares the revenue generating potential of the top black and white college basketball players. A highly skilled white college player generates over $100,000 in per game revenues as compared to around $30,000 for a black player of equal talent, providing a strong incentive for colleges to discriminate against recruiting black student-athletes.

Racial Differences in the Predictors for Academic Achievement of Student-Athletes in Division I Revenue Producing Sports

Concern over academic integrity in recent years has led the NCAA to establish eligibility standards for incoming student-athletes. This has stirred controversy because of the differential effects of the use of standardized test scores on black versus white student-athletes. The present study examines race differences in the predictors of college grade point average (GPA) for student-athletes participating in revenue producing sports. The findings suggest there are different predictors of college academic achievement for black versus white student-athletes. High school GPA and mother’s occupation are the only significant predictors of college GPA for black student-athletes. On the other hand, high school GPA, socioeconomic status, and SAT/ACT scores were significant predictors for white student-athletes. The results are discussed in light of the need for future investigations into the predictors of academic performance of student-athletes as well as current and future NCAA policy

Special Concerns and Considerations for Sport Psychology Consulting with Black Student Athletes

This article examines important concepts for effective sport psychology consulting with black student athletes. First, sport psychology consultants are urged to examine their own cultural background prior to working with black student athletes. Second, a discussion of black expressiveness is presented to provide sport psychology consultants with a knowledge base from which to operate in interactions with black student athletes. Third, relevant skills are presented for effective sport psychology consulting with black student athletes. These skills are derived from consulting with and doing research on black student athletes.

Advising Black Student-Athletes

Advising Black Student-Athletes