The University Needs All of Such Exposure It Can Get”

This article examines Columbia University's efforts to create the opportunity for its men's basketball program to participate in the National Invitation Tournament (NIT). In 1969, the New York Urban League requested that Columbia play in the NIT to, in the words of assistant director Louie Torrence, “act as a motivational force for the black youngsters in the black ghetto.” The request might benefit Columbia, as the Lions could play in the new Madison Square Garden and in the process perhaps increase the program's recruiting exposure locally and nationally, to combat the growing national perception that it was a haven for violent dissent and to create positive connections with its surrounding neighborhood. Columbia administrators lobbied Ivy League decision-makers to allow members to accept an NIT bid should one be proffered but were rebuffed multiple times, which undercut a newly competitive program, which has never regained its short-lived prominence and failed to meet the university's objectives to alter negative public perceptions

Human–computer interaction · Computer Science · Higher Education Governance and Development · Psychology