Mara Green, a Florida State U. volleyball player, took a knee last week before a match against the U. of Florida in silent protest against racial injustice and police brutality. Although several professional and high-school athletes have followed the lead of the San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, protests at college sporting events have so far been few.Joe Rondone, Tallahassee Democrat
Concerns over police brutality against African-Americans have led to a wave of athlete protests in recent weeks. Players across the country, from pee-wee sports to the pros, have followed the lead of the San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, whose kneeling during the national anthem has spurred a national debate.
So far, only a handful of college athletes have participated in the demonstrations. Athletics leaders say that many players have shown support for Mr. Kaepernick, with some expressing a desire to take a knee themselves.
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Mara Green, a Florida State U. volleyball player, took a knee last week before a match against the U. of Florida in silent protest against racial injustice and police brutality. Although several professional and high-school athletes have followed the lead of the San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, protests at college sporting events have so far been few.Joe Rondone, Tallahassee Democrat
Concerns over police brutality against African-Americans have led to a wave of athlete protests in recent weeks. Players across the country, from pee-wee sports to the pros, have followed the lead of the San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, whose kneeling during the national anthem has spurred a national debate.
So far, only a handful of college athletes have participated in the demonstrations. Athletics leaders say that many players have shown support for Mr. Kaepernick, with some expressing a desire to take a knee themselves.
But some campus leaders have pushed back, suggesting that the national anthem provides an awkward moment for protest. So far most colleges have stopped short of publicly punishing outspoken players, with some even pointing out that campuses are a place of “free expression.”
In recent years, high-profile player protests against racial discrimination at the Universities of Missouri and Oklahoma, and a player-unionization drive at Northwestern University, have thrust college athletes into the national spotlight. Since then, many athletics programs have stepped up their efforts to understand the experiences of black athletes, providing forums to help them air their feelings and positions on social issues, and decide if it makes sense to take a stand.
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Athletics leaders say they have not sought to quell player protests. Their oversight nonetheless concerns critics, who worry that colleges could be trampling on students’ rights to free speech.
Social media has provided athletes with a prominent platform. But the exposure has led many athletics departments to create elaborate monitoring systems designed to ensure that players don’t say and do things that cast their institutions in a negative light, says Hudson Taylor, executive director of Athlete Ally, which advocates for the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender students.
Such monitoring can benefit players, he says, by helping them limit their mistakes on Twitter and other social networks. On the other hand, he says, “it silences athletes from being able to speak their minds.”
Suppressed Voices
Mr. Taylor has seen firsthand how athletes’ voices can be squelched. His group recently worked with players in a prominent athletic conference to issue a public statement condemning sexual discrimination. But when athletics leaders in the conference heard about the plans, they asked the students to shelve the idea. The students complied. (Mr. Taylor declined to name the conference, as he is still working with its members to take steps against discrimination.)
Ramogi Huma has seen a similar suppression of students’ voices. Three years ago, Mr. Huma, president of the National College Players Association, organized a protest against the NCAA’s treatment of athletes. The protest — “All Players United,” which called for better medical benefits and health protections for athletes — involved about 50 players in a half-dozen prominent programs, including the University of Georgia and Georgia Tech.
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The group was supposed to be bigger. But athletes in a half-dozen other programs were discouraged from participating, Mr. Huma told The Chronicle. Some coaches killed the idea outright, he says, while others “sweet-talked” players out of joining the movement, which asked the athletes to wear arm bands and tape inscribed “APU.”
“For coaches that have stood against these issues, it’s definitely divide and conquer, that’s the tactic,” Mr. Huma says. “On a large football team, that can be effective.”
So can the threat of punishment, says Jason Singleton, a former Ohio State University basketball player and ex-investigator for the National Collegiate Athletic Association.
He is not surprised to see more protests in professional sports, where players have more protections, including guaranteed contracts and representation in labor unions. Also, he says, professional coaches typically don’t meddle in players’ personal lives as college coaches do.
“With college, the coaches have so much control over the kids,” says Mr. Singleton, who is now a fund raiser at Ohio State. He hasn’t seen problems there. But at most places, he says, “if you’re going to protest, there’s definitely going to be some consequences or repercussions.”
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If colleges want to punish players for speaking out, many have a ready mechanism, says Lawrence White, a longtime higher-education lawyer and administrator who consults with many colleges and universities.
A coach who wants to prohibit support for political or social causes could invoke a player code-of-conduct agreement, he says, which typically gives coaches wide latitude to set behavioral expectations. Such agreements, he says, can allow coaches to sit players out of games or kick them off the team, as long as they don’t strip them of their scholarships.
A ‘Terrifying’ Meeting
Many coaches are more open-minded, athletic directors say. Two years ago, football players at Oklahoma made plans to hold a protest against a fraternity, whose members had been captured on video chanting racist comments. The players’ plan called for sitting out practices.
It was the job of Ty Darlington, one of the team’s leaders, to tell Bob Stoops, the head coach, about the protest. “It was one of the most terrifying things I have ever done in my life,” says Mr. Darlington, who now works in student-athlete development at Oklahoma.
Mr. Stoops not only approved of the idea; he also suggested that if the team wasn’t going to practice, it should do something symbolic on the field during that time.
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“If this is how you feel,” Mr. Stoops told Mr. Darlington, “let’s try to maximize our impact.”
The team marched on the practice field dressed in black, a show of solidarity with African-American students. Mr. Stoops and Joe Castiglione, the athletic director, joined in.
As protests like that have played out, athletic directors on other campuses have taken note, creating their own activism playbook.
Athletics officials at some colleges have added training sessions that touch on whether athletes should demonstrate against social injustices they perceive. The sessions teach players how to choose their words carefully if they intend to speak out. And if they are going to protest, they are encouraged to have in mind what they are trying to accomplish.
Tom Mitchell, associate athletics director for compliance at Purdue University, has regular conversations with players about social issues. He says he takes a “soft-Socratic” approach with his questions. The idea is not to challenge athletes on their views, he says, but to express curiosity about them.
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He asks players questions like: If you make a demand, what do you think will happen? What if it doesn’t go well?
“We’re not going to restrict our athletes in what they do,” he says. “But we do want to empower them.”
When John Lata, assistant athletics director for student services at Florida State University, talks to players about their concerns and any actions they are considering, he asks them if they have discussed their ideas with teammates.
“If they’re all in agreement,” he says, “I’d be hard-pressed as an administrator to say, Don’t do that.”
And yet there are limits. Students have a right to express their opinions on Facebook, he says. But if they aren’t representing the university in a way that it wants to be represented, he says, the institution has rights, too.
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“Being on a sports team,” he says, “is a privilege, not a right.”
But colleges should be careful about threatening athletes or creating the perception that they are not allowed to share their views, says Tyrone P. Thomas, a Washington-based lawyer who provides guidance to colleges on athletics-compliance issues.
“If you have a group that feels like their opinion is being outright silenced or not allowed to be expressed, it could lead to larger protests or possible legal action,” he says. “If you get this wrong as an institution, you could have a blemish that could harm your athletic department for some time.”
Former senior writer Brad Wolverton covered college athletics at The Chronicle beginning in 2005, focusing on the confluence of money and sports on campus. His research highlighted allegations of academic misconduct, reports of coaches’ meddling in medical decisions, and concerns about a rapid rise in athletics donations.