Fans of Brown University Men’s Track and Cross Country, rejoice. Nearly two weeks after hearing your beloved programs would no longer compete at the varsity level and would be reclassified as club sports, Brown President Christina Paxson changed course and announced these sports would in fact retain varsity status. The eight other sports programs scheduled to downgrade were not offered the same stay, nor is there any change for the two sailing programs being promoted to varsity from club. But for now, men’s track and field and cross country will not be victims of the University’s Excellence in Brown Athletics Initiative.
This reversal of fate came after a fairly public campaign that saw some 50,000 petition signatures and robust alumni mobilization. Support for the program came far and wide, including across the other seven Ivy League track programs. As a Cornell Track alum, I got more than my share of Facebook posts asking me to join the fight. That said, Brown’s fencing petition drive hasn’t moved the needle for them. Nor equestrian or golf or skiing or squash. Paxson was clear and deliberate in her selective reversal, I’m certain to the chagrin of everyone who doesn’t run and jump – and not on a horse.
In her official statement, Paxson noted, and I quote, “We have heard clearly from our community over the past couple of weeks that the University’s decision to transition men’s varsity track, field and cross country to club status will have real and lasting implications for efforts to build and sustain diverse and inclusive communities for our students at Brown, and particularly our community of black students and alumni.” Which obviously puts a more clear rationale behind it was track and not, say, skiing – with no offense to alpine sports.
Now, to put Brown’s initial move in context, at least from what they’ve said publicly, cutting 11 sports and adding two was a way of doing a better job in fewer sports. So instead of relative mediocracy in a bunch of things, they’d be quite good in less. The numbers would suggest that’s a decent strategy. Brown has the third largest number of varsity sports in all of Division I – behind only Stanford and Harvard – yet performs towards the bottom of the Ivy League.
Cynics may suggest that Paxson quickly changed her mind because she feared losing donors, particularly at this frail moment in time. I tend not to believe that. With all due respect to Brown Track and Field, it is not the primary reason alumni give to Brown, nor does it have the donor public of the University’s academic areas. There’s a big divide between the Ivy League and, say, the SEC, when it comes to fundraising.
In the end, I do believe this decision came down to the President’s recognition that track is a particular space on campus that brings a more significant percentage of black students to campus than the student body at large. And probably more than any sports other than football and basketball. Which is why I believe the President, after hearing from alumni, decided cutting this program was not a narrative she was comfortable with at this moment in history.
As a former track athlete, I do believe our sport has racial and socioeconomic diversity like few others, particularly when compared to the lion’s share of often exclusive sports played in college, especially the Ivy League. But this does raise a more pronounced question about the place of college sports. Namely, should its purpose be to drive diversity on campus, perhaps instead of a more rounded diversity enrollment strategy that doesn’t assume athletics as a tool. And by the way, Brown, like many if not most schools, uses a range of strategies to help diversify its campus. But is it fair, or right, for sports – or even a single sport – to be used this way, something even more complicated given the intense competition for each spot in an entering Brown college class – sport or not.
There isn’t an easy answer, other than right now, I believe providing opportunities to as broad a racial and socioeconomic population at elite American universities is important. But as we now start to look more closely at how sport fits into university life across the country, as process turbo charged by the budget crisis of the pandemic, it’s probably worth examining its role as not simply a drain but also a crutch. And as the American university contributes to the current conversation around racial and social justice, sport in all its complexity should be a central topic.
But for now, Brown Men’s Track and Cross Country, welcome back. I wish you all good luck, except of course when you race against Cornell.
Keith Strudler is the director of the School of Communication and Media at Montclair State University. You can follow him on twitter at @KeithStrudler
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