Construction continued Friday morning on a new gateway sign for the University of Alabama at Birmingham to welcome those travelling westbound along University Boulevard at Richard Arrington, Jr. Boulevard — a sign of things moving forward. This was as some attempted to determine next steps following Tuesday’s announcement by university president Ray Watts that discontinued the football, bowling, and rifle teams. One becoming more apparent involves the upcoming regularly scheduled meeting of the UAB Faculty Senate on December 9. It will be held on campus at the Finley Conference Center in the Kaul Genetics Building the 1st floor auditorium in Cudworth Bldg, (1919 University Blvd.), from 7:30 – 9:30 a.m.
A review of their landing page on the university’s website states Tuesday’s agenda includes the item “UAB Athletics and Athletic Team Support.” This is believed to be representative of a proposed resolution asking that the three affected teams be reinstated immediately. There have also been calls online for the senate to conduct a vote of no confidence, most notably in the form of a letter signed by members of the UAB School of Nursing and obtained by several news outlets on Friday afternoon, including AL.com. During this evening’s rally on the university’s campus green, it was announced students planned to be in attendance at Tuesday’s meeting to also request the no confidence vote. Other planned demonstrations over the weekend include a mass march scheduled for 11 a.m. (there is no word if it would be canceled if it is raining as is currently predicted) and a “white-out” for Sunday afternoon’s men’s basketball game against Illinois State at Bartow Arena.
Today’s developments followed Thursday night’s “black-out” of the men’s basketball team’s 58-48 victory at home against Morehead State. The football team took to the court during halftime to a standing ovation; the students rushed it after the game. It also followed a statement of support for both UAB and its president Ray Watts from the Birmingham Business Alliance’s executive committee and more pieces published nationally about the situation — including this one from FiveThirtyEight.
As we watched events unfold alongside students on Tuesday, much of the focus on UAB president Ray Watts’s announcement about the discontinuation of the football, bowling, and rifle teams has focused on UAB being the first NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) school to do so since 1995. It’s important, but it’s necessary to look at the bigger picture in Division I in order to see a larger trend and to find a possible solution.
