Rutgers prof under fire for comments about student athletes

Updated: September 28, 2007, 4:15 AM ET
Associated Press





In a statement released by the university, Rutgers President Richard McCormick called it "inaccurate and inhumane."

"It also has a racist implication that has no place whatsoever in our civil discourse," McCormick said in the statement.

A Rutgers spokesman said Thursday he did not know if Dowling would face any sanctions.

Contacted Thursday, Dowling defended his statement, saying that Mulcahy and McCormick had taken it out of context, that he was directly answering a question related to minorities.

"If someone has a way to answer that question without mentioning race, I would like to hear it," said Dowling, who called the officials' accusation of racism the "cheapest rhetorical ploy I've ever heard."

Dowling, who said he was arrested in the South during the 1960s for work in the civil rights movement, said McCormick was racist for running an athletics program that exploited minorities.

"None of these kids would have been able to get into Rutgers if they hadn't been able to throw something or kick something or slam dunk something," Dowling said.

Rutgers' aspirations to elite status in college athletics, most notably in football, have provoked considerable controversy over the years in the university community, with some arguing that the university should spend less and compete at a lower level. And last year, the university axed six of its smaller intercollegiate sports teams amid state budget cuts, even as more money was poured into the football program.

The investment in football has paid off in unaccustomed success for the team, a sold-out stadium and major increases in sales of licensed merchandise. Last year's team went 11-2, won a bowl game and finished No. 12 in the final AP poll. This year's team is 3-0 and ranked No. 10 in the country.

Rutgers athletic officials say the football team's 2.7 grade-point average is on par with the university as a whole.

An NCAA academic progress report for the 2003-04 to 2005-06 school years listed the Rutgers football team's academic progress as being in the 80th to 90th percentile for Division I football programs.

Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press