Clustering By Academic Major at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs)

Abstract

Clustering By Academic Major at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) Aaron Goodson Follow-up studies of clustering by academic major, the dynamic of 25% or more of the studentathletes on a roster pursuing the same academic major, indicate that it still occurs in revenuegenerating sports (Fountain & Finley 2009, 2011; Otto, 2012). Clustering challenges the notion that student-athletes have control over their collegiate academic experience and reveals that their educational pursuits may not align with their professional goals or provide a meaningful educational experience (Sharp & Sheilley, 2008). Research on clustering is absent in member institutions of different NCAA divisions, institutions with unique missions and history (such as Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) or single-sex institutions), and institutions of higher education in other organizations such as junior colleges or community colleges. This study examined the academic majors of student-athletes in football and men's basketball at select HBCUs over four years. The results revealed that clustering occurred within basketball at four institutions, but only occurred within football at one institution. Additionally, clustering by academic major occurred at NCAA Division I and II institutions. From these results, it is clear that clustering by academic major is not just an issue at "big time" institutions, but potentially a widespread issue across collegiate athletics.

Optimization of Ideological and Political Education Strategies in Colleges and Universities Based on Deep Learning

“…Teachers may instead allocate a large amount of time to what has been described as "vigorous arguments" on the topic under consideration. As a result of the current issue-based challenge, the ideological and political courses in high school are being driven to reassess their activity-based curriculum [11]. If students get issue-based training, such as that espoused by DL, it is possible that they will profit.…”

The Relationship between Academic Clustering and Athletic Academic Support Center Reporting Lines in NCAA FBS Programs

“…Studies have found evidence of academic clustering among NCAA Division I football programs, especially at the "Power Five" level (Fountain & Finley, 2009;Houston & Baber, 2017;Otto, 2012;Watkins & Slater, 2021), although it occurs to a lesser extent at the FCS level (Paule-Koba, 2020). In addition to football, some men's and women's NCAA Division I basketball and baseball programs also academically cluster (Case et al, 1987;Goodson, 2015;Miller, 2021;Paule-Koba, 2015).…”

“…Multiple studies have determined that black, male, and "high profile" sport college athletes were more likely to be in a clustered major (Case et al, 1987;Fountain & Finley, 2009;Sanders & Hildenbrand, 2010;Houston & Baber, 2017), although another found that minority college athletes did not academically cluster more frequently at the FCS level (Paule-Koba, 2020). Research shows that while academic clustering takes place among men's NCAA Division I basketball teams (Case et al, 1987), it is less common among NCAA Division I women's teams and historically black college and university (HBCU) basketball programs (Goodson, 2015;Paule-Koba, 2015). The academic clustering of "Power Five" football programs also appears more prevalent among institutions with higher admissions standards (Love et al, 2017).…”