Woes at CSUN Not Simply Black and White

A committee formed to investigate charges of racism within the Cal State Northridge athletic department faces a Monday deadline to file its report to school President James W. Cleary.

Given the events of the past few days, Northridge officials might be tempted to postpone an announcement involving racial charges. If they comply with their deadline, the following is predicted:

After a series of interviews with Northridge athletes and coaches, the six-member committee appointed by Fred Strache, acting vice president for student affairs, will conclude that plenty of ills plague the school’s athletic department but that rampant racism isn’t one of them.

More counselors, advisers and coaches are needed to lend guidance to Northridge athletes of all color. There is no argument there.

Financial aid and scholarship money doesn’t stretch nearly far enough for many of the school’s athletes, some of whom are forced into uncomfortable--perhaps even unacceptable--means of finding food and shelter.

However, these are not black and white issues.

Karen Brannon, president of Northridge’s Black Student Union, accused athletic department officials of “racial insensitivity” while speaking at an on-campus rally March 11.

Brannon called for the resignation of Athletic Director Bob Hiegert, whom she later said had been overheard urging Northridge coaches to recruit fewer black athletes.

Hiegert denied the charge, and Brannon has failed to provide evidence to back her claim.

In fact, her accusation hinged on a rumor. Was bringing charges against the athletic department merely a publicity ploy?

Primarily because of the rally, Cleary organized six task forces to consider demands for changes in campus procedures and to investigate charges that school administrators, athletic officials and the campus newspaper, The Sundial, had been insensitive to the African-American population on campus.

The committee investigating the charges against the athletic department includes a representative of the BSU, plus Mel Wilson (a prominent athletic booster) and Bridgette Ealy (a women’s basketball player).

The committee has spent more than a month investigating the charges.

Northridge coaches know that money, or, in this case the lack of it, is the root of the problem.

Northridge athletes do not receive full scholarships to cover the nearly $6,000 annual costs for room and board in a campus dormitory plus books.

Most athletes--whatever their race--receive about $2,000 and hope to make up the difference with other financial aid or help from their families.

Often, they fall short.

Athletes attend practice while hungry.

Athletes sleep on mattresses, several to a room, in off-campus housing.

Athletes scavenge leftovers from area restaurants.

And coaches and administrators are caught in a Catch-22.

If they choose to help their athletes--arrange a job, give them money for a meal--they gamble with their jobs and reputations. NCAA rules prohibit school officials from offering assistance to athletes that is not available to the overall student population.

Early last month, Patrick Johnson, a Northridge football player and member of the Black Student-Athlete Assn., presented Hiegert with a list demanding a meal plan for athletes of two meals per day, subsidized housing for athletes in dormitories, a full-time African-American football coach and a black academic adviser.

The BSU has legitimate concerns.

There is, however, the problem of paying for such a program. Concrete solutions are at a premium.

Football Coach Bob Burt would be glad to have someone like former Ram LeRoy Irvin, a black volunteer assistant, as a full-time member of his staff. There just isn’t an opening.

However, that does not explain the absence of minority coaches throughout the Northridge coaching ranks.

Tony Veney, an assistant athletic director and assistant track and field coach, is the only African-American member of the school’s full-time coaching staff. There are no black or Latino head coaches, and for that matter only one woman, basketball Coach Kim Chandler, is in charge of a program.

It’s just too bad, particularly in these turbulent times, that what could come as constructive criticism was delivered under the guise of a racial issue.