Jonathan Zimmerman: Recruiting is also a scandal at Duke
[Jonathan Zimmerman teaches history and education at New York University. He is the author of the forthcoming "Innocents Abroad: American Teachers in the American Century."]
Let's imagine three high school kids with identical academic records who are applying to the same elite private university. The first is African-American; the second is a "legacy," a white guy whose father attended the university, and the third is also white, but he's an all-state athlete.
Who has the best chance of getting in? If you said the black kid or the legacy, you're wrong. The answer is the athlete, by a long shot.
That's the part of the Duke lacrosse scandal that everyone is ignoring. Ever since last month's charges of rape at the team's off-campus house, we've heard lots of talk about the privileges that elite athletes enjoy. But nobody mentions the biggest privilege of all: admission to the university itself. If not for their prowess on the lacrosse field, most of the 47 kids on the team,
14 of them from Long Island, probably wouldn't be at Duke in the first place.
If you don't believe me, take a look at two books about college sports by former Princeton president William G. Bowen. Examining a wide range of private institutions, Bowen has shown that "recruited athletes" - kids who are contacted by coaches while they're still in high school - have about a 50 percent better chance of gaining admission than other students with similar academic credentials. For minority students and legacies, the advantage ranges from 18 to 24 percent. The more selective the university, the greater the boost for athletes.
This isn't just a guy thing: Female athletes receive roughly the same edge. But it is, mostly, a white thing. The vast majority of recruited athletes at elite private universities - like the vast majority of students, period - are white.
Call it "affirmative action for white people." And lacrosse is whiter than most sports. At Duke, for example, only one of the players on the team was a member of a racial minority. Given how selective Duke has become in recent years, it's fair to presume that most of these kids were admitted mainly because they're superb lacrosse players.
Remember, Duke's lacrosse team was ranked No. 2 in the nation when this controversy began. You don't get that good by chance; you do it by recruiting.
Four of the best high school lacrosse players in the nation from Long Island - from Northport, Huntington and Manhasset, as judged by Inside Lacrosse magazine - are pledged to play at Duke next season....
Read entire article at Newsday
Let's imagine three high school kids with identical academic records who are applying to the same elite private university. The first is African-American; the second is a "legacy," a white guy whose father attended the university, and the third is also white, but he's an all-state athlete.
Who has the best chance of getting in? If you said the black kid or the legacy, you're wrong. The answer is the athlete, by a long shot.
That's the part of the Duke lacrosse scandal that everyone is ignoring. Ever since last month's charges of rape at the team's off-campus house, we've heard lots of talk about the privileges that elite athletes enjoy. But nobody mentions the biggest privilege of all: admission to the university itself. If not for their prowess on the lacrosse field, most of the 47 kids on the team,
14 of them from Long Island, probably wouldn't be at Duke in the first place.
If you don't believe me, take a look at two books about college sports by former Princeton president William G. Bowen. Examining a wide range of private institutions, Bowen has shown that "recruited athletes" - kids who are contacted by coaches while they're still in high school - have about a 50 percent better chance of gaining admission than other students with similar academic credentials. For minority students and legacies, the advantage ranges from 18 to 24 percent. The more selective the university, the greater the boost for athletes.
This isn't just a guy thing: Female athletes receive roughly the same edge. But it is, mostly, a white thing. The vast majority of recruited athletes at elite private universities - like the vast majority of students, period - are white.
Call it "affirmative action for white people." And lacrosse is whiter than most sports. At Duke, for example, only one of the players on the team was a member of a racial minority. Given how selective Duke has become in recent years, it's fair to presume that most of these kids were admitted mainly because they're superb lacrosse players.
Remember, Duke's lacrosse team was ranked No. 2 in the nation when this controversy began. You don't get that good by chance; you do it by recruiting.
Four of the best high school lacrosse players in the nation from Long Island - from Northport, Huntington and Manhasset, as judged by Inside Lacrosse magazine - are pledged to play at Duke next season....