Stillman College, the historically Black educational institution in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, has announced that it is eliminating 10 of its 12 intercollegiate athletics programs for the 2016-17 academic year. Only men’s and women’s basketball will continue to field teams. Sports being eliminated are football, baseball, softball, women’s volleyball, as well as men’s and women’s track, cross country, and tennis.
According to the latest report from the National Collegiate Athletic Association, there were 60 Black scholarship athletes on the college’s football team and 33 Black scholarship athletes on the cross country or track teams.
Stillman College will leave Division II of the National Collegiate Athletic Association and join the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). Under NAIA regulations, colleges much field six intercollegiate teams. However there is a four-year grace period for Stillman to reach the six-team level.
