One Foot In: Student-Athlete Advocacy and Social Movement Rhetoric in the Margins of American College Athletics

Abstract

In "One Foot In: Student-Athlete Advocacy and Social Movement Rhetoric in the Margins of American College Athletics," the author explores student-athlete advocacy of black male student-athletes in revenue generating sports and educational and cultural reforms to NCAA policies and bylaws over approximately two decades (1985-2006). The author examines non-profit organizations--Black Coaches Association, Drake Group, Institute for Diversity and Ethics and Sport, and Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics--who pressured the NCAA to enact measures to restore order and balance to American college athletics. In addition, these measures are designed to increase student-athlete graduation rates, increase opportunities for minority coaches and administrators, and protect college educators who blow the whistle on institutions who commit infractions. The author begins by identifying social movement rhetorical strategies--the "Triple Front" strategy of Harold Cruse and Agitation/Control Rhetoric of Bowers, Ochs, and Jensen--to analyze rhetorical interactions between non-profit organizations and the NCAA, especially how the NCAA responds by using control rhetoric in order to protect itself from outside influences. Finally, the author ends the discussion by using autoethnography to analyze my own experiences as a writing program administrator challenging NCAA hegemony by running a progressive writing program within a traditional student-athlete study hall.