LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - MAY 28: Dr. Richard Lapchick accepts the John Carlos and Tommie Smith Social Justice Champion Award at the Advancement of Blacks in Sports (ABIS) Champions and Legends Awards at Resorts World Las Vegas on May 28, 2022 in Las Vegas …
ORLANDO, Florida (AP) - The founder of the institute that examines diversity in sports is taking to Twitter to highlight weekly examples of racism in sports and elsewhere.
Richard Lapchick is the founder of The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport (TIDES), which was launched in 2002 at the University of Central Florida.
The organization annually produces report cards evaluating racial-and gender-hiring practices for professional sports leagues as well as college sports. The reports include evaluations for professional leagues including the NFL, NBA, WNBA, Major League Soccer, and Major League Baseball. The reviews examine a range of positions including coaches, owners, general managers, front-office personnel, and administrative staff at the league and team levels.
Report cards for college sports have looked at positions such as school presidents or chancellors, athletics directors, coaches, faculty athletics representatives, and conference commissioners. They have also examined graduation rates along racial and gender lines.
TIDES issues numerical and letter grades while charting the hiring changes from one year to the next, highlighting positive gains as well as negative trends for improvement.
Lapchick said TIDES found 58 articles in their first week of searching, and he highlighted 11 on his Twitter feed.
"I am doing this because I think most are not aware of the frequency of these divisive and destructive events," Lapchick said.
NEW YORK, NY - SEPTEMBER 13: Richard Lapchick, human rights activist and writer speaks at the Beyond Sport United Conference at NYU on September 13, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images)
The topics shared Monday include the World Cup, the NHL’s Boston Bruins and their handling of the Mitchell Miller signing, and college sports.
In November 2021, Lapchick — a leading voice on issues of equality in sports — stepped down as director of the DeVos Sport Business Management Graduate Program at UCF to devote more time to supporting social-justice issues.
NEW YORK, NY - SEPTEMBER 12: Dikembe Mutombo and Richard Lapchick attend the Beyond Sport Global Awards on September 12, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images)
He has become a central figure in promoting diversity hiring in sports
The son of late college and NBA coach Joe Lapchick remained the director of TIDES, which annually produces report cards evaluating racial- and gender-hiring practices for professional sports leagues as well as college sports — most recently on the NFL.