James T. Carter

Assistant Professor Organizational Behavior

James Carter, an assistant professor of organizational behavior who studies diversity and discrimination in institutional and corporate environments, says the campaign taps into longstanding frustration with organizations benefiting from Black communities, particularly athletes, while failing to defend their civil rights.

Carter says:

“So often it feels that sports organizations — the NCAA and professional sports teams in particular — want Black bodies on their courts and fields but are unwilling to support the Black communities they scout for talent. My sense is that this campaign seeks to show those institutions that the Black community isn’t going to stand for it anymore. As we’ve seen with the massively successful Target boycott, there is power in Black collective action.

“These universities cannot separate themselves from state policies that strip Black communities of their fundamental and civil rights while also expecting Black athletes to ‘suit up’ on game day as if the two are unrelated.”

David A. Bateman

Assistant Professor

David Bateman is a professor of government and policy.

Bateman says:

"Boycotts of universities and colleges are a reasonable, but usually ineffectual, way of bringing pressure on state legislatures. These are the same legislators who have often been starving these institutions of money, or stripping them of academic freedom. 

'Political action through consumption has a very poor track record, unless folded into a much larger political project, such as the boycott, divestment, sanctions regime that gave some leverage to the South African freedom movement. Family consumption choices will not work in isolation, but could be a useful tactic of a large scale social movement."