Shots In The Dark: Speaking of Race

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Speaking of Race

The Crimson reports that Harvard has offered the job of varsity basketball coach to Tommy Amaker, former coach at Michigan and Seton Hall.

Amaker would become just the second Crimson basketball coach in the last 16 years, after former Harvard coach Frank Sullivan was fired on March 5 after posting a 12-16 record overall and a 5-9 mark in the Ivy League.

This was obviously a late-night game of catch-up for the Crimson, which got scooped by the Globe on the story; it's posted at 12:32 A.M.

Still, you'd think that even at that hour, the Crimson could have noted what may be the most salient fact about Amaker's reported hiring: He will become the only black head coach at Harvard, a situation spotlighted by a recent story in the Boston Globe.

But that fact goes unmentioned in the Crimson piece....

¶ 9:03 AM

Comments:

A stupid omission, yes, but I'm not sure it qualifies as racism.

# posted by Anonymous : April 10, 2007 9:30 AM

Good point, bad title; I wasn't actually trying to suggest that the Crimson was racist. It's now been changed from "Speaking of Racism" to "Speaking of Race."

# posted by Richard Bradley : April 10, 2007 9:34 AM

Richard, let's talk about advising at Harvard--there's an article about the Advising Fortnight just begun, and indeed I noticed yesterday's freshmen carrying out what seemed a glossy pizza take-out card that was, in fact, the fortnight's schedule.

What I found most weird about it is the new bureaucratic requirement for an "Advising Conversation" (capitals theirs), which students are meant to report online. This seems the sort of thing administrators dream up & congratulate themselves about (Record as many as you want! All on our website!), but I don't see what it has to do with actually helping students understand the choices before them and the university's resources. I'm aware I'm reacting more to the form or convention than the actual content or purpose. But what do others think?

# posted by eadw : April 10, 2007 10:17 AM

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