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School Gives Backhand to Tennis Player Who Attended Journalism Conference

By Lavonte Young and Eddie R. Cole Jr.
Black College Wire

Photo credit: K. Cummings/The Meter Melaney Whiting, dismissed from the tennis team, wrote that "The Tennessee State University's department of athletics . . . has its priorities mixed up."

Athletics officials at Tennessee State University say they first suspended— not dismissed — a journalism student from the tennis team because she attended a journalism conference last month instead of tennis practice. But they say they soon decided a dismissal was appropriate.

“As athletics director, I am always disappointed when a student-athlete is dismissed from a team,” Teresa Phillips said in an e-mail to The Meter, the student newspaper. “It is our desire to retain all students in our athletic programs. Sometimes it is simply not a workable situation. In this student’s case, team rules were violated, which initially led to a suspension. Further actions by the student led to an overall assessment that she be dismissed from the team.

She did not specify what "further actions" led to the dismissal of Melaney Whiting, a junior mass communications major from Dallas and arts and entertainment writer for The Meter. Whiting chose to attend the HBCU National Newspaper Conference, which took place Feb. 8–11 in Greensboro, N.C.

Whiting wrote an opinion piece in The Meter March 20 in which she said, "The Tennessee State University’s department of athletics, headed by Director of Athletics Theresa Phillips, has its priorities mixed up."

Whiting's scholarship for the 2006-07 academic school year will not be renewed, according to athletics officials.

However, “the 2005-06 scholarship of Ms. Whiting’s was not revoked. It has and will remain on her account,” Phillips said.

The Athletics Department statement followed a week of media requests. The department initially did not return telephone calls about Whiting's scholarship.

“Ms. Whiting has stated that she requested permission to miss team practices (Feb.) 8-11 for a non-athletic event, and that her request was denied by TSU (tennis coach) Gerald Robinson,” the statement read. “She has also stated that she missed team practices. The University does not dispute this. Although the University cannot disclose academic information, it can conclusively state that it has no record that the conference Ms. Whiting attended was tied to any academic course or academic requirement at TSU.”

In the March 23 issue of Nashville’s City Paper, Phillips said, without elaborating, “There were some earlier issues" regarding Whiting’s practice attendance. “Being an athlete means sacrifice, sometimes in situations like this.”

Whiting said that she had requested permission to miss practice only during the fall of 2004. Beyond that, she said there have been no attendance issues. The university said the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 restricts the institution from releasing information about Whiting’s disciplinary history.

Phillips said coach Robinson was out of town and unavailable for comment.

In her essay, Whiting wrote, "I informed my head tennis coach Gerald Robinson of both the importance of this conference and the need for me to attend, but he instructed me not to attend instead. Afterwards, I appealed the removal of me from the team and my scholarship, but was denied by Phillips.

"Now why would a coach with two college degrees and well into his career instruct me not to attempt to do the same for myself? I guess because missing three days of practice more than a month before the start of the season was more important than enriching my academic experience and education."

She said the trip was "completely funded, supported, and excused" by the university and noted that The Meter "won a second place national award for best news series for Hurricane Katrina coverage which I spearheaded and first place best weekly newspaper."

She said later that she did not seek help from others after the coach told her not to go, and instead continued to practice.

Dana Thomas, assistant coordinator of public media relations for the National Collegiate Athletic Association, said a student-athlete could lose a scholarship if his or her grade point average dropped below 1.8 during the student's freshman and sophomore season or below 2.0 in junior or senior season. Also, she said, the scholarship could be revoked if an athlete were arrested or charged with a crime, put false information on documents such as financial aid forms, or broke any of the team's rules.

Also, according to documentation provided by Phillips, the “renewal of institutional financial aid based in any degree on athletic ability shall be made on or before July 1 prior to the academic year in which it is to be effective.”

The institution is also required to notify the student in writing of the chance to have a hearing whenever financial aid is reduced or cancelled.

Lavonte Young and Eddie R. Cole Jr. are students at Tennessee State University who write for The Meter. Young is interim sports editor and Cole is editor in chief.

Posted March 28, 2006

Statement from Valerie Nieman, Director of 2006 HBCU Newspaper Conference

I was saddened to learn that one of the fine young journalists who attended the Eighth Annual National Newspaper Conference, Ms. Melaney Whiting of Tennessee State University, may have suffered some academic repercussions as a result of her participation in the Feb. 9-11 event.

North Carolina A&T State University was proud to serve as host for this event, which is a major project of the Black College Communication Association and the venue for national newspaper awards presentations.

As conference director, I was surprised to read in a press release that Tennessee State “can conclusively state that it has no record that the conference Ms. Whiting attended was tied to any academic course or academic requirement at TSU.”

More than students in most academic disciplines, student journalists depend on real-world experience and exposure to the current standards and practices of the industry. At the Eighth Annual National Newspaper Conference, students heard from such icons as Chuck Stone, contemporary leaders including Richard Prince, Caesar Andrews, Reginald Stuart and Mark Goodman and had the opportunity to workshop with working journalists and fellow students on issues ranging from design to photography to business writing to First Amendment issues.

Supporting the event financially and with speakers and panelists were industry leaders including Knight Ridder, The New York Times Co., the McClatchy Group, Landmark Communications and more.

Internships are essential to the success of a journalist student, and the opportunity for those internships is fostered by events such as the job fair that concluded the HBCU National Newspaper Conference. I believe that the journalism instructors and newspaper adviser at Tennessee State would agree that attending conferences such as the one hosted at N.C. A&T is an important part of their students’ academic and professional development.

Posted March 29, 2006