Two years ago, Branwen Smith-King, then the Tufts' women's cross-country coach, took a group of her runners to Nationals. Staying at a hotel overnight, Smith-King split the team into room assignments, and ended up placing three very different runners in the same room.
The runners may not have thought much of their differences at the time, for they were not very good friends. One was a freshman, two were upperclassmen. One was black, two were white. One was outgoing, one was shy, and one was in between. One listened to country music, one listed to soul music, and the other would listen to anything.
It seemed like a match from hell, and Smith-King, a native Bermudan, wondered if friction between the three might inhibit their ability to compete the next day. Her worries proved to be unfounded however, as the three got along magically, calling each other "roomie" for the rest of the year.
"Maybe it wasn't a big deal to them that they got along," said Smith-King, who has since been promoted to Assistant Athletic Director (AD). "But to me it was. That experience gave me a sense of warmth that people can get to know each other and boost each other's confidence. Their differences were more in personalities than in color. I wish more people could see that. I wish more people could experience what athletes can experience."
In examining racial issues at Tufts, it seems that athletes may be an enlightened cross section of the general population. The experience that Smith-King recalled is certainly not an isolated one, as Tufts athletic teams have long been recognized for their unusually high levels of racial harmony. Call it idealistic, but with all of the racial issues swirling around campus like a hurricane, the eye of the storm may be directly over the University's courts and fields.
"Sports bring out the best in people," Smith-King said. "It can bring out the worst also, but it's great to see how people can compete and still be friends." Smith-King recounted a story about the '96 Olympics in Atlanta, where she was helping out with the Bermudan team, when two of her former Cuban competitors from the 1972 Olympics in Munich tapped her on the shoulder and started talking to her. "There were no differences dividing us 20 years later."
The Assistant AD has also seen how sports can help minorities bridge the difficult gap of fitting in on the Tufts campus.
"I had a woman of color come to me her freshman year," she said. "She was having trouble fitting in, but the experience of blending in on a team helped her adjustment to Tufts. I've had women of color grow a tremendous amount and become captains in their senior year. I've had white women gain a whole new experience competing with women of color."
So, is a racetrack or a basketball gym really a center of racial harmony? According to some of the players it is. Junior basketball player Bruce Reese came from a high school where he was the only black kid, but has taken an extreme liking to the diverse culture at Tufts.
"We have a pretty diverse team here," Reese said. "No one expects more from someone because of their race. All of us hang out together, also, so people don't see the black kids hanging out with the black kids and the white kids hanging out with the white kids."
Athletic Director Bill Gehling agreed, citing an example from a movie made a few years ago by then-student Sally Ruben entitled Throw Like a Girl. The film addresses themes of gender and race, and one of the conclusions made was that sports has a unique ability to bring diverse people together to build around a team.
"I've always thought one of the greatest methods of diversity training is a sports team," Gehling said. "Sports teams are wonderful melting pots. Everyone has a common goal, and can forget about differences, whether religious, personality, or racial."
But with so much controversy over race on the Tufts campus this year, is it possible that athletics have managed to stay completely above the fray? While the benefits of athletics on race relations is evident, it is important to note that not everything in sports is perfect.
"Racial issues still do exist in sports," Smith-King said. "I talk with some of my students about institutional racism. We are all racist, although we try not to be. It is all about education, learning to rise above it."
Possibly the greatest example of institutional racism comes on the basketball court, where stereotypes often abound. Reese has noticed this to be the case on occasion, though now it is much less severe than in his high school. Still, Reese has noticed racial motivation behind the jeering that comes from fans, and, while it is not racist in the classic sense, it is still prevalent.
"People from other schools expect me to be a superstar because I'm black, so they'll heckle me," Reese said. "No one gets on Big Turkey [senior captain and center Dan Flaherty] because they think he's a big, goofy, white kid. But then they see he's the captain and a leader on the court, but people assume that the black kids on the team are the best, so they heckle them."
No one on the women's basketball team has had that problem, because no one on the team is a minority. In fact, in at least the past four years, the only minority on the team has been Asian American, Carrie Hironaka.
Coach Janice Savitz feels that this is due less to any type of discrimination, but more to a lack of interest in the school.
"People may think it is a prejudice, but that is not the case at all," Savitz said. "I used to coach an all-black team in high school, but I haven't come across minority kids that are interested in women's basketball at Tufts."
Gehling supported this comment by adding that coaching on the Division III level is more about responding to people interested in playing for you than finding the athletes in the first place.
It is also important to point out that minorities are well represented on many of the sports teams when compared to the overall percentages at the school. However, finding reliable numbers is a problem, as Gehling points out, because coaches don't ask players their racial background when they try out for a team.
"I have some rough numbers," Gehling said. "I'm not sure they're accurate. In order to get better numbers, we would have to ask players when they try out, and that runs in opposition to what we're all about."
Gehling did, however, speculate that the numbers of minorities on sports teams does run somewhat parallel to the overall numbers at the school. Though this may not be true across the board, he said that he was very confident that black students are represented in a comparable manner.
Regardless of the positives and negatives concerning race and sports, the most comforting thought, however, is that the people in charge are working to change that.
"My mind is always open to helping things improve," Gehling said. "If someone has a problem, I want people to come talk to me. In my 20 years here, I have never seen a problem of that nature, though."
Smith-King, likewise, is thankful for the way in which she has been treated while at Tufts.
"When you're foreign you have an accent, then I'm a woman in sports, and I'm a woman of color, so I have three strikes against me," Smith-King said. "But I love Tufts because I can be who I am. I don't have to prove anything to anybody."
