Two years after it cut its men’s track and field program, Central Michigan University is being accused of racial discrimination by a national consultant who filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights.
The complaint alleges CMU discriminated against Black students based on race when it eliminated the varsity men’s track and field team and replaced it with a varsity men’s golf team, on Oct. 18, 2021.
“Our choice later, in adding men’s golf, was motivated by financial, compliance and student success reasons,” said President Bob Davies, during a press conference on Thursday. “Any allegation to the contrary is inaccurate and misleading.”
The allegations of racial discrimination were made by Russell Dinkins, a national consultant whose organization works to reinstate men’s track and field programs associated with higher-education. He has helped other track and field programs become reinstated.
The Office of Civil Rights enforces Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color or national origin by the recipients of federal financial assistance, which CMU receives as a public university.
According to Director of University Communications Aaron Mills, CMU firmly believes the office will find “no evidence that the university discriminated against students based on race.”
The decision to cut the men’s track and field team was made on May 19, 2020, which Davies said impacted 30 student-athletes. The majority students who were impacted are white. There was three Black students, three multiracial students and two international students also impacted, according to Davies.
Last September, the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan wrote the decision had “generated considerable controversy and a movement to have the program reinstated.” The university’s student newspaper, Central Michigan Life, also reported the ACLU had concerns, “especially after replacing track and field with golf, a sport historically less accessible to people of color.”
Eliminating the program saved the university $625,000 last year, according to Mills. Critics of the decision dispute that number. The elimination prompted the university to add another men’s sport program, due to eligibility requirements with the National Collegiate Athletic Association.
At the Thursday press conference, Davies said the men’s golf coach is still recruiting for the team. However, he said the university officials are confident the head coach will be scouting athletes with diversity in mind.
“I think that what he has done, and what he is doing now, forecasts a very bright future,” Davies said.
It’s currently undetermined where the men’s golf team will host its outings. Davies said the university is “involved in all the local areas” relating to the potential decision.
Kevin Jennings was named by Vice President/Director of Athletics Amy Folan to head the Central Michigan men’s golf program in October, 2021. He is leading the resurrected golf program, which begins NCAA Division I play this coming fall, after a 36-year hiatus.