Dr. Akilah Carter-Francique
“I just know talent, and I respect people from afar on a job well done,” says Mulkey at a press conference following LSU’s victory.
Mulkey also quipped that Reed would not be at JSU long if the institution did not pay her more, and HBCU supporters were quick to point to the disparity in resources between the programs. A stalwart of the Southeastern Conference, LSU managed an athletics budget in 2019 over $127 million; JSU’s budget is under $8 million and ranks near the bottom of the Southwestern Athletic Conference budgets. But those familiar with HBCU sports culture say it is rarely about the money for coaches and staff at the institutions.
“I understood where [Mulkey] was going with that — an individual having that much talent deserves to receive those kinds of accolades, which go with salary,” says Dr. Akilah Carter-Francique, executive director of the Institute for the Study of Sport, Society, and Social Change and an associate professor of African American history at San Jose State University. Carter-Francique, who was on the faculty at Prairie View A&M University prior to her arrival at San Jose State, says that many people at predominately White institutions do not understand the cultural significance of working at historically Black institutions for Black faculty and staff.
“If we compare HBCU environments to those PWI institutions … HBCUs are safe spaces for Black students, for Black athletes, for Black faculty,” she says, adding that there is an inherent “sense of value of working in those institutions that have been historically marginalized.”
A family affair
