A Season Inside by John Feinstein

Blacks?
    —What percentage of your university’s tenured faculty positions is held by Blacks?
    —What is the nature of the academic and social support services available to Black students designed to address the unique circumstances many of them bring to the higher education environment?
    —What percentage of Black students who enroll at your university actually graduate?
    —What percentage of Black members of your basketball team have graduated during the last ten years?
    —What has been the academic major distribution of your basketball players during the last five years?
    —What percentage of your athletics department’s procurement budget is awarded annually to Black-owned businesses?
    —Is there an academic advisor, full or part-time, attached to your basketball team?
    —What percentage of your university’s top administration positions is held by Blacks?
    —What positions do Blacks occupy on your athletic department staff?
    As you can see, these inquiries are designed to get a fuller picture of life at your university. Jerrod has indicated a desire to attend a university that has an excellent academic program, a positive athletic tradition, and a demonstrated awareness obligation to provide access to all segments of our society. We are sure that there are many things about your program that you would like to bring to our attention. We are eager to consider them along with the information we have requested.
    We would like for you to join us on [fill in a different date for each coach] from 6 P.M. to 7:30 P.M. to discuss Jerrod’s academic and athletic future. We would be happy to clarify any aspect of this request. Please feel free to contact us. You may contact us through DeMatha High School. We look forward to welcoming you into our home.
    Sincerely,
    Mr. and Mrs. Sharr Mustaf
    The intent of the letter was clear. Each school recruiting Jerrod was to be graded on its response to the letter. Of course, there was no doubt that Howard, a black school, would easily grade the highest. And, in fact, Howard would be one of the three “finalists” eventually chosen.But Howard was just a smoke screen. At no point was there any chance that Jerrod would end up there.
    When he read the letter, Wootten was thrown at first. He knew this letter would cause controversy, but he also thought many of the questions quite legitimate. “The only thing I suggested to Sharr was that he not pin each coach down to such a specific time because the recruiting period (three weeks) was so tight,” Wootten said. “He understood that.”
    The letter, though completely different in nature, brought back memories of the infamous “Ewing letter” of 1980 in which “the committee” helping Patrick Ewing choose his college had informed the schools recruiting him that, among other things, Ewing would need untimed testing while in college. Some of the schools that lost out on Ewing—all of whom would have accepted him in a second—used that letter to try to prove that Georgetown was admitting someone who was academically unqualified.
    This was different. But it was still controversial. When word leaked out, as was inevitable, that the Mustafs had written a letter to the coaches demanding statistics on black involvement in their school, a lot of people were quick to judge Sharr Mustaf as some kind of racist.
    Sharr Mustaf is no racist. Talk to him for five minutes and that will become apparent. But he is extremely race conscious. He believes that blacks have an obligation to do for other blacks because more often than not, whites won’t do for them. This, he felt, was his chance.
    Exactly how Jerrod felt about this is tough to say. He was quick to explain that he agreed with everything his father was doing and that these were questions that were important to him too. “I went along with it and I was behind what my father was doing,” he said. “I would like to be an example to other blacks in the future.”
    All well and good. The