Following athletes, NCAA takes aim at Confederate flag

Emboldened by the athletes it serves, the NCAA is taking another stand on a social issue.

The NCAA on Friday expanded its policy banning states with prominent Confederate symbols from hosting its sponsored events, one day after the Southeastern Conference made a similar declaration aimed at the Mississippi state flag.

The current NCAA ban, in place since 2001, applies to what the NCAA calls predetermined sites, such as for men’s basketball tournament games.

Mississippi is the only state currently affected by the policy. The expanded ban — supported by all eight public universities in the state — means that even when sites of NCAA events are determined by performance, as they are in baseball, women’s basketball and softball, Mississippi schools will not be permitted to host.

“We must do all we can to ensure that NCAA actions reflect our commitment to inclusion and support all our student-athlete. There can be no place within college sports where any student-athlete is demeaned or unwelcome,” NCAA President Mark Emmert said.

The decision from the NCAA's Board of Governors comes on the heels of two weeks of nationwide protests and rallies against racial injustice and police brutality sparked by the death of George Floyd, a black man who died while being detained by police in Minneapolis.

On campuses from Clemson to UCLA, college athletes have led demonstrations and marches. In some cases they have called for the renaming of buildings and removal of Confederate images.

“They (the NCAA) are following the trail, which is contradictory to leadership,” said Fritz Polite, vice president of opportunity development at Shenandoah University and member of the Drake Group, a college sports watchdog. “Leadership is about influencing and modifying the behavior of...