Discussion

I really thought a great deal about this discussion. I wanted to be enlightening and broad, because as we see in everyday life (and our textbook in Ch. 8), diversity is more than a racial or gender issue, its an LGBT, Age, Ethnicity, Disability (among others) issue.  Statistics can tell us a lot, and in many cases, the demographic makeup for positions of high rank is disheartening to say the least. But I wanted to go beyond that a bit and to think about how you all feel policies impact diversity in sports organizations.

Perhaps the most widely discussed (as well as praised/critiqued) policy for diversity in sports is the National Football League's (NFL) "Rooney Rule" - the informal name (for its main proponent - Steelers Owner Dan Rooney) given to the league policy implemented in 2003 that for each head coaching vacancy in the league, the team hiring a new head coach must interview at least one minority candidate for that position. Recently, the rule has been expanded (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.to mandate a female candidate for executive vacancies. The policy has been met with a lot of optimism (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. and concerns (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.. As you'll see in the links above, there can be arguments made for both the effectiveness and ineffectiveness of the policy. 

So for this discussion, I'd like for you to click on and then read the links posted in the paragraph above.  Once you've read those, please answer/provide the following:

1. Please browse the internet for a Rooney Rule related article or video to share with the class (with a link so we can read/view) and what your thoughts were on the article/video. 
2. Next, describe what your overall thoughts are on this policy. Should it be altered or remain the same? Why? Does the policy do enough to increase true diversity?
3. Lastly, describe one other sports organization/sport you feel should consider a similar rule to the Rooney Rule and why