Minority recruitment efforts for faculty and students have been highly publicized in recent years, but another area of university life hasn’t seen as much press, racial inequality in athletics.

A symposium organized by MSU athletics director Clarence Underwood at Kellogg Center this week aimed to begin to correct that. Nine speakers addressed more than 50 people about topics from affirmative action to networking, but most of all, the lack of diversity on coaching staffs nationwide.

The symposium was a fine way for Underwood to close out his tenure at MSU.

He is set to retire July 1, when former MSU head hockey coach Ron Mason will take over the position.

The severity of the diversity problem is greater than anyone realized. MSU’s Bobby Williams is one of only four minority head coaches in NCAA Division I-A football. This is a statistic that is rather alarming, considering the enormous number of football teams, and minority players, in the division. It is good for all coaches, administrators, professors and media professionals to take a stand and recognize the need for diversity among college coaching staffs. The issues discussed Tuesday will help promote diversity awareness about coaches and other high-ranking positions.

But we must remember that, in the process, this is a problem that not only applies throughout the whole university.

We are slowly building up the level of diversity in MSU’s faculty.

We hope spreading the word of minorities in sports positions will help students and administrators look to minorities in the professional field.

Perhaps universities could benefit from modeling recruitment efforts after practices in the NFL, as suggested by former head coach George Perles. The professional league brings minority college coaches to its training camps to allow them to become familiar with the workings of professional football.

This program may help give coaches everywhere the chance to be exposed to and learn about the complex system of college football and expand job opportunities.