University Of Central Florida Study: Gap In Graduation Rates 'Deeply Troubling'

 The 65 men’s basketball teams competing in the NCAA tournament fared better in the classroom than last year’s tournament field. However, “the continuing disparity between the academic success of African-American and white student-athletes is deeply troubling,” according to a University of Central Florida study released.

The analysis by Richard Lapchick, director of UCF’s Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport, found that 84 percent of white men's basketball student-athletes and 56 percent of African-American men's basketball student athletes from the tournament schools graduated. The good news is that’s an increase of six and two percentage points respectively. Despite those gains, however, the “persistent gap between African-American and white students” grew larger.

The study noted that the graduation rate for African-American basketball student-athletes is much higher than it is for male African-American students overall.

Six teams in the tournament field -- Brigham Young, Marquette, Notre Dame, Utah State, Wake Forest and Wofford -- graduated 100 percent of their basketball student-athletes.

The study, co-authored by Christopher Kaiser and Brian Hoff, is based on six-year graduation rates for the freshman classes that enrolled between 1999 and 2002. To read the entire study, click here.

The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport serves as a comprehensive resource for issues related to gender and race in amateur, collegiate and professional sports. The institute is part of the DeVos Sport Business Management Program in the College of Business Administration. The landmark program focuses on the business skills necessary for graduates to conduct successful careers in the rapidly changing and dynamic sports industry while also emphasizing diversity, community service and sport and social issues.

UCF Stands for Opportunity: The University of Central Florida is a metropolitan research university that ranks as the 3rd largest in the nation with more than 53,500 students. UCF's first classes were offered in 1968. The university offers impressive academic and research environments that power the region's economic development. UCF's culture of opportunity is driven by our diversity, Orlando environment, history of entrepreneurship and our youth, relevance and energy. For more information, visit http://news.ucf.edu.

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