I think Kenny is right on the money here, and I can add some info from my own experience and contact with quizbowl teams from HBCUs. I've never had the pleasure of attending the HCASC myself, but from what I hear, it's quite a positive experience for those involved. When the rules prohibited crossover competition in other tournaments, I had an issue with that. But happily that issue has been resolved and HBCU's can compete in NAQT, ACF, and independent tournaments. Overwhelmingly, the HBCU coaches tell me, the biggest barrier to their participation in quizbowl is money, same as it is for many other schools. Quizbowl has never been a well-funded priority for most universities. Thanks in large part to the overall financial straits of higher education, especially publicly funded schools, it's gotten worse in the past year or two. (For that matter, UTC's own funding was eliminated for this year, because there was an administrative change and our request was never received by the new dean. We're trying to get it restored for '05-'06, but there's no guarantee.) Historically black colleges are also historically underfunded colleges, so they have more financial limitations than the average college. In the past 5 years UTC has had teams from six different HBCU's compete in our academic and/or trash tournaments. Their performance has been comparable to other teams new to the circuit. Morehouse, which has come the most often, has also fared the best; they clearly had game the first time we saw them, and then they improved with experience. I would love to see corporate America offer more opportunities and sponsor tournaments with a wider base of teams, but I have no problem with what Honda does and am glad the HBCU's have the opportunity they do. It's not easy shaking money out of the corporate tree. Heck, I feel like UTC does well to get an annual in-kind marshmallowy donation from Chattanooga Bakery for the Moon Pie (TM) Classic. In the meantime, if you want to see a more diverse circuit, see more HBCU's competing in other tournaments, then instead of raining on someone else's parade, how about inviting the marchers to come to yours too? --- In quizbowl_at_yahoogroups.com, Kenny Peskin <kenneth_peskin_at_y...> wrote: > I'm not going to get into the "preconceptions involved" with HCASC. Except to say that competitions among HBCUs and HBCU students are commonplace in many fields (athletics, artistic, performance). Within a world that has a Coca-Cola black college golf championship (that sponsored by Coca-Cola) and a Bayou Classic and Dodge SWAC Football Championship game (both preclude participation in NCAA 1-AA playoffs), HCASC is not the exception to an otherwise fully integrated universe. > > The HCASC is "a relic of the earlier days" of the 1980's. It existed then, as it does today, because it has a corporate sponsor willing to underwrite the significant costs of the competition. If any other quiz format in college or HS was viewed as a desirable corporate sponsorship opportunity, as General Electric, Panasonic, and Texaco once believed, then IMHO similar tournaments and championships would currently exist. > > Furthermore, I don't think anyone today (or even in the past) thinks that the HBCU students are unable to compete with other students. I believe that CBCI and Honda felt that the HBCUs themselves could not (or would not) be able to fund quiz programs with the financial resources required to compete in (then) College Bowl and (later) circuit tournaments. Perhaps a few could, but not the 60+ that participate in HCASC. This distinction between the institutions and the individual students is crucial and should not be confused. > > > oilbaronsball <no_reply_at_yahoogroups.com> wrote: > > > However, I do have a problem with some of the preconceptions involved > with this tournament. The biggest one is that people who attend HBCUs > are not capable of competing at the same level as those people at > ordinary colleges and universities. Has it been proven that this is > the case? Or is the Honda competition a relic of the earlier days of > CBI (1950s and 1960s) when discrimination against people based on the > color of their skin was widespread and socially acceptable? Relics > have a way of disappearing when they have outlived their usefulness. > For example, Radcliffe College has been integrated into Harvard > University, and the Negro Leagues disappeared 15 years after Major > League Baseball opened the doors to black players. Those of you who > would point out that the Honda competition is an example of diversity > may have to help me out, because that tournament does not look very > diverse to me. > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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