ISSUES & PERSPECTIVES : Survey Results Similar to University Study on Plight of Black Athletes : CSUN: About 60% of respondents believe school is insensitive to their needs; 42% have witnessed racism in some form.

Almost two-thirds of African-American athletes from Cal State Northridge surveyed by The Times say that the school and its athletic program are insensitive to their needs.

Though only three of the 33 current or former African-American Northridge athletes questioned said they personally have witnessed examples of racism within the athletic program, 42% said they have experienced racism in a classroom setting. In addition, black athletes say they are struggling both in and out of the classroom considerably more than their white peers.

The survey’s results are similar to those of a study released in May by a university task force formed to examine claims by the school’s Black Student Union that African-American athletes at Northridge receive unfair treatment. Of the 350 athletes who competed for Northridge sports teams while receiving some type of financial assistance during the past school year, 96 were African-American.

The six-member task force reported that student-athletes received inadequate academic advisement and financial support, noted an unacceptable graduation rate for black athletes--9.2%, less than one-third the rate for white athletes--and suggested a need for more black coaches and academic advisers, plus a meal plan for athletes.

A report released last week, authored by the school’s Athletics Advisory Board, an 11-member panel of faculty, staff and students, also outlined shortcomings within the athletic program. However, that report stated, “Many of the problems faced by minority athletes are not racially defined, but are faced by most athletes in common.”

That has been the party-line of athletic officials all along. They say the program’s inadequacies are simply extensions of those experienced throughout the university system.

Tyrone Dorsey, a senior linebacker on the football team, said, “I used to think it was a black-white issue, but I don’t anymore. I think mostly it’s a money problem. The people who feel it most just happen to be African-American, but the problems are across the board.”

Rich Gitahi, a distance runner on the men’s track team, expressed a similar sentiment. Gitahi is a member of the Northridge Athletic Council, an advisory organization consisting of athletes representing each of the school’s 18 sports teams.

“A lot of these problems were already being addressed,” Gitahi said. “The athletic department has been trying for years to cooperate with housing, advising and financial aid. We have moved forward, but it took something like (the BSU charges) as the jolt to get things going.”

Still, a majority of the athletes surveyed criticized the athletic program, saying African-Americans lacked both financial and moral support.

“(Athletic administrators) need to get into education more,” said one football player who asked not to be identified. “They’re more interested in getting us ready for Saturday when they should be interested (in) what we do Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.”

Bridgette Ealy, a four-year starter on the women’s basketball team, said athletic administrators and coaches lack an understanding of the problems faced by incoming black athletes.

“Where are most of us from?” Ealy asked rhetorically. “Low income. Poverty. The inner city. Our (grade) schools were not the best and we come here and we’re pushed for athletics.”

In an emotional rally at Northridge in March, African-American students and faculty leaders accused the administration and athletic program of racism, demanded extensive changes in campus policies and called for the resignation of Athletic Director Bob Hiegert.

While 15% of the athletes surveyed claimed to have heard a coach or teammate make a bigoted remark, almost two-thirds said they had heard examples of racism in athletics through friends or teammates.

Among the most repeated complaints was that scholarship and financial-aid packages frequently fell short of projections made by coaches during the recruiting process.

“Money is a main thing,” said Don Martin, a receiver on the football team from 1987-91. “(The coaches) try to stress that it’s not. They say, ‘You can do this, you can do that. You can get around it. You can work.’ But working is almost impossible. Working, playing football and going to school is almost impossible.”

While there were no specific charges made of racial bias concerning the distribution of scholarships, black athletes contend their financial struggles are more pronounced than those of their white teammates.

“It is mostly black athletes who are walking around starving, asking each other, ‘Do you have food at your house tonight?’ ” said Joy Polk, a senior sprinter on the women’s track and field team.

Albert Fann, the school’s career rushing leader who completed his eligibility in 1990, found fault with a system that he said demanded coaches to be competitive despite insufficient funds for athletic scholarships.

Fann said programs short on money scour inner-city schools searching for players who can qualify for financial-aid packages that do not deplete athletic funds. Many of those packages include loans. Lower-income families struggle to repay those loans, Fann said.

“I wouldn’t blame it on the coaches,” Fann said. “The coaches do the best they can with what they have at the time. They’re victims of the system too.”

Overall, the survey indicated that black athletes are far more at ease in their athletic environment at Northridge than they are in the classroom; only 12% said they had been made to feel uncomfortable while competing or training with Matador teams.

Polk said she consistently received lower marks in a speech class when her themes took on an African-American flavor. The same instructor, Polk said, used an insulting racial term.

Erin Morris, a senior hurdler on the women’s track and field team, recalled “racist comments flying back and forth” in a religious studies class.

Marquette Ennis, a sophomore sprinter on the men’s track and field team, said that in each of his four semesters at Northridge he has “encountered some type of racial incident with a professor.” He cited a racial slur and a dispute with an instructor about a grade as examples.

Others complained that the university’s curriculum lacked cultural diversity and was “Eurocentric.”

None of the athletes interviewed said they had experienced segregation, although football players confirmed the task force finding that there was a “white bus” and a “black bus” for road games. However, they said the team’s coaching staff had not orchestrated the split.

“You could sit on any bus you wanted,” said Dorsey, adding that he once sat on “the white bus.”

“If you want to listen to one kind of music you sat on one bus. If you want to listen to another kind, you sat on the other,” he said.

Football Coach Bob Burt has said the players were free to sit where they wished. Still, players were critical of their coaches for allowing such an arrangement.

“For the coaches not to see that startled me a lot,” said Patrick Johnson, a senior outside linebacker and the president of the recently formed Black Student-Athlete Assn. “Maybe they didn’t see it as a problem, but it was (a problem) because it divided us.”

That Burt made reference to a football player “picking watermelons” during a practice a couple of years ago also was mentioned in the task force’s report.

However, Fann and Martin, both of whom witnessed the incident, came to Burt’s defense while responding to survey questions.

“What (Burt) said came out of frustration,” Martin said. “He was upset at the time and you could tell right away that he knew what came out were the wrong words.”

When Fann, a team captain, told Burt that his comments had upset some players, the coach quickly apologized.

“They want to bring this issue up now but I was there looking at the tears in (Burt’s) eyes when he talked to us,” Fann said. “All the players said, ‘We forgive you, Coach,’ and it was never brought up again until now, years later, long after it was buried.”

Several athletes praised Burt for his attempt to establish an open-door policy between himself and his players, but 58% of the athletes surveyed said the school needed greater ethnic balance on its coaching staff.

Troy Strange, a senior wide receiver on the football team, echoed the sentiments of the majority of those surveyed when he said, “I feel more comfortable with someone I can talk to or look up to who has been in the same situations, been in the same place and can relate to what I’m talking about and the problems I’m having. We need good role models.”

Johnson, who grew up in Los Angeles and attended predominantly black Crenshaw High, said there was no coach on the Matador football staff last season he could “emulate or relate to.”

“I had no role model,” Johnson said. “And why? I know there are qualified coaches out there. So why (did) we have 11 coaches, all white?”

Northridge has five African-American coaches, but only one, Tony Veney, an assistant athletic director and track and field assistant, is a full-time employee. John Frazier is a part-time track and field assistant, and part-time assistant Dale Bunn, unpaid graduate assistant Cornell Ward and volunteer assistant LeRoy Irvin are recent additions to the football staff.

Both the Black Student Union and Black Student Athlete Assn. repeatedly have called for the resignation of Hiegert, the athletic director. However, only 18% of athletes surveyed said Hiegert should step down, while 48% were undecided. Of the remainder, most gave Hiegert conditional support.

Polk’s response was typical. “I don’t think he should resign,” she said. “I think he should stay and deal with the problems.”

Is There Racism in CSUN Athletics?

Charges of racism within the athletic program at Cal State Northridge surfaced last spring. Recently, The Times questioned 33 former and current African-American athletes from CSUN. Below are the results of the survey. Question: Have you personally witnessed racism in the athletic program? Yes: 9% No: 91% Undecided: 0% Comment: The two affirmative responses stemmed from comments by football Coach Bob Burt. Neither athlete considered the remark racist but both said others did. Burt later apologized.

Question: Have you personally witnessed racism in a classroom setting? Yes: 42% No: 58% Undecided: 0% Comment: There were several specific charges of racial bigotry against professors and classmates. Others complained that the overall curriculum was largely “Eurocentric.”

Question: Have you heard about examples of racism within the athletic program secondhand, from friends or other acquaintances? Yes: 64% No: 36% Undecided: 0% Comment: Shortfalls in financial aid and scholarship money have left some athletes without food and shelter. African-Americans are said to be struggling considerably more than their white peers.

Question: Have you heard a coach or teammate make a bigoted remark? Yes: 15% No: 85% Undecided: 0% Comment: Most racial references are said to be made in fun. On the men’s track team, black teammates compliment a white 400-meter runner with comments such as “that white boy can run!”

Question: Have you witnessed any form of segregation within the athletic program? Yes: 0% No: 100% Undecided: 0% Comment: The football team traveled to away games in two buses--a “white bus” and a “black bus.” Players said the arrangement was not orchestrated but still criticized coaches for allowing the situation to exist.

Question: Have you been made to feel uncomfortable because of your race while competing or training? Yes: 12% No: 88% Undecided: 0% Comment: Athletes from sports with less ethnic representation said they were more self-conscious. Conversely, football and track athletes almost unanimously said they felt secure while in an athletic environment.

Question: Overall, is the athletic program sensitive to the needs of African-American athletes? Yes: 30% No: 61% Undecided: 9% Comment: For the most part, those interviewed said the school could do significantly more for athletes of all colors. Tutoring and counseling in regard to academics and economics are of primary concern.

Question: Should achieving a racial balance on the school’s coaching staff be a priority? Yes: 58% No: 39% Undecided: 3% Comment: The prevailing question was, why do so many African-Americans compete in athletics while so few coach? Many of those who said achieving balance should not be a “priority” said it should be a factor when choosing among equally qualified applicants.

Question: Would you feel comfortable reporting an act of racism to an athletic administrator? Yes: 61% No: 33% Undecided: 6% Comment: The majority of those who responded “no” said they would pursue other courses of action through counselors, etc.

Question: Should Athletic Director Bob Hiegert resign? Yes: 18% No: 33% Undecided: 48% Comment: Those who said “no” said he should be given time to address existing problems. Those who said “yes” most often cited weaknesses in his administration rather than alleged racism.

Who was interviewed: Baseball--Scott Richardson, Kyle Washington. Men’s basketball--Percy Fisher, James Morris. Women’s basketball--Bridgette Ealy, Roz Linton. Football--Ivy Calvin, Lamont Cedric, David Clark, Tyrone Dorsey, Albert Fann, Jamal Farmer, Mario Hull, Patrick Johnson, Don Martin, Troy Strange, Bryon Ward. Men’s track and field--Troy Collins, Jeff Dunn, Alvin Eddington, Marquette Ennis, Tyrone Gayles, Rich Gitahi, Chris Perry, Mike Smith, Nate Wright. Women’s track and field--Nina Lowery, Tanya Lynch, Erin Morris, Joy Polk, Charlotte Vines, Kim Young. Men’s volleyball--Jamal Thompson.