ORLANDO Fla. – The disparity between graduation rates for White and Black college football players at schools headed to bowl games grew slightly this year, according to a study released Monday.
The annual report by the University of Central Florida’s Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport also showed overall academic progress. But there were 21 schools that graduated fewer than 50 percent of their Black football players, the study found. That’s up from 19 last year.
Dr. Richard Lapchick, the director of the institute, said the widening gap between Whites and Blacks was surprising because those numbers had closed in recent years.
“That could be a temporary blip, but it certainly caught me by surprise,” he said. “I think part of it is the urban education system where a lot of the African-American students come from is so depleted. Too many student-athletes recruited from those areas are so far behind when they come to college, it’s difficult to catch up.”
