I would hate to think a university that relies so heavily on its black athletes would discriminate against black people. I’m not making any accusations, I’m just questioning the policies and actions of Florida State University .
In an attempt to broaden our coverage outside FAMU sports, The Famuan requested media credentials for the FSU homecoming football game. According to Rob Wilson, assistant athletics director for media and public relations at FSU, that request was accepted. He told me to pick up the press passes on Saturday. He said that my name would be placed on the list.
When I arrived at Doak Campbell Stadium Saturday afternoon, things seemed to have changed.
First I went to the press entrance where I was told to go to will call. Once at will call I was informed that my name was not on their list and sent to Gate B. At Gate B a woman told me to ask the police officers where to go. They sent me to Gate A, the players’ guests’ entrance. That obviously wasn’t where I needed to be.
I returned to the will call table. The woman at will call led me to the ticket office. A clerk there escorted me back to the place where I had started, the press entrance. She pointed to an abandoned table and told me that the people that had once sat at this table would have had the list with my name on it. She said they leave the table and go to the press box 15 minutes after the game has started. By this time it was 3:50 p.m., 20 minutes after the scheduled kick-off time. We returned to the ticket office and the clerk attempted to call the press box.
There was no answer. I was given an apology, a smile and an “I don’t know what to tell you.”
I’ll never know if my name was placed on that list. But what I do know is that something just didn’t feel right about that whole situation on Saturday. In the words of fired Michigan State head coach Bobby Williams, “I would hate to see (that) race played into this.”
-Elizabeth Broadway, 19, is a sophomore newspaper journalism student from Alpharetta, Ga. She is The Famuan’s sports editor. She can be reached at thefamuansports@hotmail.com.