The NESCAC admissions statement proclaims a commitment to “building equitable and inclusive communities that represent many dimensions of diversity.”
Although the NESCAC applies recruiting guidelines to all member colleges, “each NESCAC member college maintains its own set of practices for selecting a class.”
One dimension of diversity is racial diversity. Bowdoin athletic teams have been more successful than their NESCAC peers in recruiting student-athletes of color. However, Bowdoin has struggled to increase and maintain racial diversity within its athletic staff compared to other NESCACs. Along with changes in DEI requirements, all of this leaves an unclear answer about Bowdoin’s future when it comes to recruiting and working at DEI.
Diversity in numbers
While the athletic department has not released the percentage of student-athletes of color for the class of 2024 and 2025, Ashmead White executive athletic director Tim Ryan revealed to the Orient that, of class of 2024 to 2027, the percentage of student-athletes of color. the share of athletes of color in athletics increased from 19 percent to 25 percent. Bowdoin has not released data ahead of the 2024 class.
Nonetheless, over the past four years, Bowdoin’s recruit diversity rate has remained above NESCAC averages. According to the most recent data, the average percentage of student athletes of color at NESCAC schools for the Class of 2026 was approximately 24 percent, four percent lower than the Class of 2026 recruited by Bowdoin.
Racial diversity among Bowdoin recruits remains significantly lower than that of students overall. Over the past four years, the percentage of students of color in each incoming class has varied between 38 percent and 46 percent. On average, the difference in diversity rates between recruits of color and non-recruited students of color is approximately 21 percent.
This difference in diversity between student-athlete recruits and the student body is not pervasive at all NESCAC schools. In Amherst’s Class of 2026, the percentage of athletes of color increased to 42 percent, while students of color made up 49 percent of the student body. Since 2017, Amherst Athletics has changed its recruiting process to focus on finding student athletes from underrepresented areas and communities.
NESCAC schools are less racially diverse compared to the entire NCAA Division III, by an average of 3 percent. For the Class of 2026, the NESCAC percentage of student-athletes of color approached 24 percent, while the percentage of student-athletes of color in Division III hovered around 28 percent.
Diversity rates among Bowdoin’s athletic staff and coaches have lagged behind their NESCAC peers. In 2020, only 4 percent of Bowdoin’s athletic staff identified as people of color, while the average percentage of staff of color at NESCAC schools was 11.2 percent. In 2021, this increased but remains below the NESCAC average. Since then, the difference between the NESCAC average and the diversity rate of Bowdoin’s athletic staff has continued to widen.
The relationship between diversity and recruitment
The administration and students are questioning whether a racially diverse athletic staff can be linked to a more racially diverse incoming student-athlete class.
“In 2018, the men’s basketball team hired a new assistant coach of color,” said Jai DuVal ’24, co-president of the Athletes of Color Coalition (AoCC). “The following year, the men’s basketball team had more athletes of color.”
There are two dynamics at play in the correlation between athletic personnel and student-athlete recruiting diversity. First, coaches of color may be more likely to seek out and recruit from underrepresented communities. Second, athletes of color may feel more comfortable engaging in playing in an environment with staff who can share their experiences.
“The coach of color can see that recruit in himself and vice versa,” said DuVal, who is also a member of the women’s basketball team.
“As we want to increase diversity on our teams, we would also like to increase diversity on our staff.… It adds experience for everyone to have diverse perspectives and backgrounds,” associate athletics director for operations, diversity, equity and inclusion. » said Katie Greene.
Changes to the hiring process with the goal of increasing diversity within the staff include asking DEI-specific questions and including a representative from the athletic department’s DEI committee throughout the hiring process. interview. Additionally, assistant coaches are now selected through a committee interview process rather than by the head coach of the respective sports team.
Still, athletic staff diversity is just one of many factors hindering the prospect of a more diverse recruiting class. Football player and AoCC co-president Jordin Young ’23 sees problems with the Bowdoin location.
“It’s very difficult to convince student-athletes of color to uproot and move to Maine. From my first-hand experience, it took me a long time to convince myself to commit to Bowdoin,” Young said. “This is nothing specific to Bowdoin, but the broader fact that Maine is the whitest state in the country is not very attractive to student athletes of color, although Bowdoin is an excellent school.”
The continuation of the work of the DEI
DEI requirements in the department have also changed. In September, Greene released the fifth update to the athletic department’s DEI action plan.
Last year, all sports teams were required to hold at least one DEI-related meeting per month. This year, the requirement was reduced to two total DEI meetings per semester.
Greene said this change is intended to increase the quality and focus of DEI meetings. Now the focus of meetings has shifted to individualized and flexible approaches for each sports team.
“The two meetings per semester are for deeper work and more meaningful conversations, instead of maybe just 10 minutes after practice,” Greene said.
“We’ve done a lot of work to elevate our (DEI) knowledge base and training among staff and student-athletes so that we can now maintain it,” Greene said. “Our goal was to make DEI training and conversations very common within our athletic department.”
Based on surveys from last year, DEI efforts at Bowdoin Athletics have been successful in athletics. 86 percent of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that they feel comfortable speaking with someone in the athletic department about DEI issues (an increase of 16 percent since 2021).
DEI work varies by sports team
The track and field and cross country teams are some of the largest teams on campus. Cross country captain Matt Audi ’24 noted that the track and field teams have had a DEI committee for three years, while the cross country teams started their DEI committee this year. DEI committees for sports teams are not mandated by the athletic department.
The cross country DEI committee drafted a separate action plan and launched a book club over the summer, reading a Black runner’s memoir that sought to shatter the supposed egalitarian narrative of running . During the season, the cross country team holds 20-minute DEI meetings and optional drop-in lunches on alternating weeks.
“We want to address structural factors and make sure everyone feels included.…(However,) these are just buzzwords unless you try to make them actionable,” Audi said.
The cross country team has more availability to discuss DEI issues during the season because they participate in meets every other week, whereas most teams may play one or more games per week.
“We are not as intense during our racing season as some other teams because we have a year-round commitment,” Audi said. “So we’re trying to spread out our (DEI work).”
The women’s ice hockey team also launched a DEI committee itself last year.
“(Last year), in our DEI committee, we led the discussion on identity and published news articles and tables relating to the work of DEI and seeing other perspectives,” said Anyi Sun ’26, AoCC treasurer and ice hockey player.
This year, however, women’s ice hockey did not reestablish its DEI committee, but the team did complete one of its mandatory DEI meetings on the same topic as last year: the wheel of identity.
As the off-season approaches for fall sports, athletes remain hopeful about what lies ahead.
“In the off season you have a lot more free time, you could probably even have a DEI meeting every two weeks,” DuVal said. “But in season, I think it’s very difficult.”
