Spelman College president denies report that school is actively recruiting Gabby Douglas
Spelman College president Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum is denying a report that the historically black women's school is recruiting gold-medalist Gabby Douglas "hard."
TMZ.com on Thursday published a story saying Tatum was in London actively recruiting Douglas, 17, to enroll at the Atlanta college. The story also included a photo of the gymnast posing with a Spelman gift bag.
While Tatum was in London during the Olympics, she said it was not to recruit Douglas and that the two have never met.
"I don't really know anything about Gabby other than she won a gold medal," Tatum told The Huffington post. "Any young person with the drive and discipline required to achieve world-class excellence is likely to have what it takes to be successful in college."
Tatum did say, however, she played a role in giving Douglas the gift bag, which contained a Spelman shirt and a CD with an original song by one of the school's students.
Before making the trip, Tatum knew her friend and Spelman alumna Helen Smith Price would have the opportunity of meeting Douglas at the Games, so Tatum had Price deliver the bag to the women's all-around gold medalist. In addition to the CD and shirt, Tatum included a personal note to Douglas.
"In my note, I told her how proud so many of us are at Spelman College of her achievement," Tatum said. "I said, 'We don't have a gymnastics team at our college, but when you look at colleges I hope you'll look at Spelman.'"
It's probably a good thing Spelman doesn't have gymnastics team. There was probably an NCAA violation or five in this story. But go Jaguars!
Photo: Streeter Lecka/Getty Images
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Yeah, there were a ton of NCAA violations in that "non-recruiting" contact. I agree with the University President, though. I would think that anyone who has the drive to achieve a medal in international competition, likely has the aptitude to be a good student. Not always the case as we still see an athlete everyday doing some very dumb things. Still, its a good gamble.
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I BELIVE THAT ANY COLLEGE OR UNIVERSITY HAS A RIGHT TO RECRUIT ANY BODY THEY WISH WHEATHER BLOACK OR WHITE. BEING IN AN INTERRACIAL MARRIAGE I THINK THAT POINTING OUT THAT THE COLLEGE IS PREDOMINATLY BLACK WOMEN JUST ADDS TO RACIAL PROBLEMS WHY SHOULD IT MATTER
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Don't you understand this is how the college defines itself? Most, if not all black schools clearly state in their descriptions they are a black school. This is a recruiting tool. The story is not about the girl being black, the story is about a college president recruiting this young lady while she is at the O Games. So go back and reread the story and get off your soap box about racial lines. You should write the White house to tell the guy living there to stop using racial lines....
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The person who wrote this article obviously does not know anything about the history of Spelman College or what Gabby Douglas means to a historically Black women's college. Spelman is not breaking any NCAA violations. The president, Beverly Tatum, wants Gabby to jknow how proud African American women are of her and that her victory has a special meaning for us. Spelman is dedicated to educating the best and brightest Black women and the college has produced sucessful women for over 100 years. This is not about gymnastics, This is about recognizing that Gabby exemplifies the drive, deternmination, grace and intelligence to represent Spelman College.
