TO THE EDITOR:
In the wake of the Wainstein report, Coach Roy Williams should resign. We know from the report that there were 167 enrollments in fake classes by basketball players under his watch. Although Coach Williams has asserted that “he constantly preaches that their number one responsibility as coaches and counselors is to make sure their players get a good education,” his actions do not support this claim.
In the University, a major responsibility is the education of students. Williams admits as much. A responsible educator would not leave untested the assumptions that Williams appears to have made about the educational pathways of his players. Williams has said that he was concerned about the appearance of clustering in majors like African and Afro-American studies and expressed his concern to his assistants. As a coach, instead of an educator, he benefited from any efforts that undermined legitimate eligibility. As an educational leader he should have pursued his concerns, regardless of the consequences for eligibility.
From an organizational perspective, basketball is simply not complicated enough to justify delegation of educational oversight. At any given time there are only 15 or so players. The delegation of responsibility on what is admittedly the top priority, “get a good education,” seems neither reasonable nor acceptable. If the coach’s first obligation to his players is that they get a good education, he should be intensely curious about their educational activities, not just delegate this to others.
Coach Williams has presided over a system that failed to honor its commitments to his students. He should admit his mistakes, take responsibility for this failure of leadership and step down.
Prof. Lewis Margolis
Public Health
