Decorated college basketball coach John Calipari is leaving the University of Kentucky to take a job with the University of Arkansas, news outlets reported on Sunday.
Coaches change jobs all the time, but this one has some unfortunate echoes of broader issues in higher education at the moment.
Calipari’s move is reportedly being financed, in part, by his friend John Tyson, an heir to the Tyson chicken empire and a conservative megadonor from Arkansas. Tyson will also reportedly help finance the school’s “name, image and likeness” fund, a pool of money used to attract potential recruits with deals they can use to make money from advertising. But the University of Arkansas will be on the hook for millions of dollars, too, since Calipari’s salary is reportedly millions more per year than what Arkansas’ outgoing coach was being paid.
This has me thinking about a disturbing trend I’ve noticed in college athletics lately: Universities are axing their diversity programs while also plunging millions of dollars into their athletics programs. The University of Arkansas, for example, dissolved all of its diversity, equity and inclusion-related jobs last year in accordance with conservative lawmakers’ crusade against diversity programs.
And when you cut programs meant to attract and retain nonwhite students — particularly Black students — while doubling down on efforts to recruit Black athletes, you’re sending a clear message about the kinds of nonwhite students you want to actively recruit; that is, the ones most likely to generate profits for you. It’s an exploitative arrangement.
The University of Arkansas isn’t the only school to do this.
The University of Arkansas isn’t alone, although other colleges aren’t making these decisions of their own volition. The University of Texas at Austin slashed its DEI programs — and the jobs required to run them — after Texas Republicans passed a law banning the programs at schools. Still, the university…
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