Will North Carolina Central University's 1st NCAA Tournament... Academics? 1 of 6 3/24/14 9:56 PM

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1 David Kroll, Contributor I write about drugs, education & the science affecting our daily lives PHARMA & HEALTHCARE 11:22AM 2,582 views Will North Carolina Central University's 1st NCAA Tournament Bid Boost Academics? If North Carolina Central University were not in the same city as Duke University, you d likely have heard more about them not just their sports but their academic programs as well. NCCU transitioned to NCAA s Division I in the years preceding their final approval for the season. The Eagles scored an NCAA men s basketball tournament berth for winning the Mid-Eastern Atlantic Conference championship this year. Prior to the tournament, they finished the season 28-6 on a 20-game winning streak, with a notable 10-point victory over N.C. State just before Thanksgiving. I had the pleasure of serving as a professor of pharmaceutical sciences at NCCU for almost four years and it was one of the most enriching personal and professional experiences of my career. Beyond working in one of two biotechnology and biomedicine-focused research institutes, NCCU afforded me the opportunity to engage with students and faculty in their tremendous jazz studies program, and everywhere across campus from criminal justice and library sciences to public administration, educational and health disparities, and communications. A historically-black college/university with an enrollment of 8,155 students 6,369 undergrads and 1,786 NCCU ranks 12th on the U.S. News & World Report list of HBCUs; fourth among state-funded HBCUs. NCCU is one of 17 institutions that comprise the University of North Carolina system (which includes UNC-Chapel Hill and NC State) one of five HBCUs and was the first in the system to require community service as a graduation requirement. The current student body self-identifies as 78% African-American, 12% White, 1.8% Hispanic and 1.2% Asian and is particularly well-suited for low-income (Pell Grant-eligible) and first-generation college students from all backgrounds. Since 1980, HBCUs as a whole have experienced a 123% increase in the number of Hispanic and Latino students. 1 of 6 3/24/14 9:56 PM

2 Will North Carolina Central University's 1st NCAA Tournament Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Men s Basketball Champions (Credit: NCCU Eagle Sports) NCCU s history has also been intertwined with the early 1900 s success of Black entrepreneurship, specifically in an area that became known as Durham s Black Wall Street, an enterprise that was praised at the time by W.E.B. DuBois and Booker T. Washington. The college was founded by Dr. James E. Shepard in 1910 as the National Religious Training School and Chautauqua. Shepard himself was a pharmacist graduate of another HBCU, Shaw University in Raleigh, where their Leonard Medical School and School of Pharmacy trained 400 African-American physicians and pharmacists between 1881 and I could write much more about this history but I promised a focus on collegiate sports, and specifically my thoughts on how NCCU s athletic programs and their first NCAA men s basketball tournament bid might serve the larger academic community of the university. The Secret Game Athletic competition has always been a strong suit at NCCU. Most notable was the influence of Dr. LeRoy Walker, NCCU s track and field coach who later became university chancellor and the first Black president of the U.S. Olympic Committee. Dr. Walker led NCCU athletes into the Olympic Games between 1956 and 1980 and was the U.S. team coach for the 1976 Games. Just before Walker joined the university, NCCU then the North Carolina College for Negroes was the site of a milestone in collegiate athletics. March 12th marked the 70th anniversary of the first interracial collegiate basketball game in the United States, a clandestine, Sunday morning competition at the NCCU campus with a Duke medical school team, many of whom were stationed there for World War II medical service. Several of the Duke players were from the North and West and had played with African-American athletes before. Many were baffled and disgusted by the Jim Crow segregationist policies of the South. If you re interested in this story, I wrote about The Secret Game elsewhere. 2 of 6 3/24/14 9:56 PM

3 Will North Carolina Central University's 1st NCAA Tournament... Today, the NCCU team plays in the McDougald-McLendon Gymnasium, with the latter name recognizing the then-28-year-old coach, John D. McLendon, who brokered The Secret Game. NCCU is led now by another relative young coach, LeVelle Moton, whose leadership and mentorship over the last five years has brought the team to this point. Thoughts from an inspirational servant-leader While I was at NCCU, the transition to Division I was under the guidance of athletic director Ingrid Wicker-McKee and now-retired Chancellor Charlie Nelms, Ed.D. I caught up with Nelms earlier this week to discuss the rationale for the move to Division I and how he might expect the NCAA appearance to affect university academics. Charlie Nelms, Ed.D. Retired Chancellor of NCCU and Senior Scholar of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (Credit: charlienelms.com) 3 of 6 3/24/14 9:56 PM

4 Nelms is himself a HBCU graduate (University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff) who then spent much of his career at predominantly White institutions (PWIs), particularly in the Indiana University system. His tenure at NCCU from 2007 to 2012 saw a dramatic increase in academic standards for performance, retention and progression. He was also instrumental in establishing the Centennial Scholars, a program dedicated to enhancing the success of Black male students. His 2011 policy directive, A Call to Action (PDF), serves as a guide for revitalizing HBCUs as an essential component of the nation s global competitiveness in today s educational and economic landscape. Dr. Nelms continues as a voice for educational transformation through his columns at The Huffington Post and active Twitter presence. I m excited for the institution and especially for [athletic director] Ingrid and her hard work that got us the institution this point, said Nelms. Nelms said that he doesn t expect that the NCAA appearance will automatically affect academic programs, but rather will raise the visibility of the university s programs. For an increase in national visibility to have positive impact on the university, You have to have the goods already in place, says Nelms. This philosophy underlies why his support of the Division I transition while university chancellor was coupled with strong efforts to enhance academics, and especially the success of young Black men. What does Nelms expect? You ll get three things: First, you ll appeal to a broader array of students by elevating the university s national profile and increase the capacity to recruit outstanding students. Second, you ll increase the potential for advertising and corporate sponsorship. And the institution will hopefully be able to cash in on the groundswell of alumni enthusiasm in the form of financial support. A systematic 2009 study (PDF) by Pope and Pope supports Nelms first point. Simply appearing in the tournament raises application numbers by 1%. Making the Sweet 16 increases application by 3% and the Final Four by 4-5%. The average NCAA men s basketball champion experiences a 7-8% increase in applications. These numbers are obviously greatest in the year following the appearance but persist into the second year. The authors also cite a modest increase in SAT scores of the subsequent incoming classes as more applications are received from students both below and above the institution s average incoming SAT score. A review by Getz and Siegfried (PDF) concludes that, As a form of advertising and public relations, or as the consumption of entertainment services, intercollegiate athletics may attract students, thereby substituting for alternative recruitment expenditures. Simply having Division I sports teams seems to matter more than success of the teams. Nelms point about increasing advertising and corporate sponsorship isn t restricted to athletics but rather as a gateway for sponsors to learn about other programs they might wish to support that align with corporate missions and goals. In speaking of the larger HBCU community, Nelms says, We ll continue to offer the economic and cultural advantages, that have traditionally been associated with these institutions. But the exposure will hopefully advertise 4 of 6 3/24/14 9:56 PM

5 that HBCUs are dedicated to educating people from all walks of life. Of these investments and increased exposure, Nelms says, We ll keep doing what we re doing, but at a higher level. I remember Nelms always being frank in this regard with his Destination Graduation mantra. On more than one occasion, I recall some version of, If your destination is not graduation, we ll help you find another institution that better suits you. He s also a supporter of HBCUs not spreading themselves too thin across all areas but rather focus investment on their existing strengths. Everything is important but not everything is of equal importance, says Nelms. The financial issue is a substantial concern for HBCUs like NCCU. For perspective, NCCU s current endowment sits in the ballpark of $20 million. Four miles away, Duke University was established when the Duke family bought and relocated Trinity College. James Buchanan Buck Duke invested $40 million to name the new school in honor of his father, Washington Duke. That s $40 million in 1924 just over half a billion in 2014 dollars. (To their credit, the Duke family also helped NCCU acquire half of the land on which the campus currently sits. The university s main performance venue is called the B.N. Duke Auditorium in honor of Buck s brother, a tobacco, energy and textile industrialist and philanthropist.) The future Nelms reminded me that, The transition from Division II to Division I was no cakewalk. And it won t be a cakewalk to remain there. He recalled that in their original projections, funding of the Division I sports program was expected to come in part from athletic fees as student enrollment was planned to grow to 13,500, a two-thirds increase over current numbers. But as the UNC system moved it performance metrics from enrollment to four- and six-year graduation rates, all of the constituent institutions faced challenges of one kind or another, particularly since the state legislature tightly controls tuition increases. So as I watched yesterday s Twitter feed of enthusiasm for NCCU s tournament appearance, I could only hope that each of these folks would also making donations to the university commensurate with their enthusiasm. Regardless of how far they go in the tournament, the community here in Durham and the worldwide network of Eagle alumni are incredibly proud of what these young men have achieved this year. This is particularly true for the graduating seniors who bore the brunt of the abrupt increase in the level of competition during the Division I transition. So I m putting my journalistic objectivity aside to say, Eagle Pride, Amplified! Update: The #14-seeded NCCU men fell to #3 Iowa State last night in San Antonio by a score of But they kept it competitive for the first half, leading at times and going into the locker room only down But 5 of 6 3/24/14 9:56 PM

6 somehow that doesn t smart as much down in Durham as seeing #3 Duke lose to #14 Mercer, only having to travel just down the interstate to play in Raleigh. By the way, I applaud the class of the UNC-Chapel Hill fans I saw in the San Antonio audience cheering on NCCU. The Tar Heels will be the next to face Iowa State. This article is available online at: 1st-ncaa-tournament-appearance-promote-their-academic-programs/ 6 of 6 3/24/14 9:56 PM