Brigham Young University has been hit by another allegation of racial slurs after five women’s soccer players from a visiting team reportedly said they heard the N-word being directed at them.
The players alleged that they heard the racial slur shouted at them and their teammates from the crowd during a game at BYU in 2021.
The soccer players had knelt during the national anthem to protest racial and social injustice when they reportedly heard shouts of ‘Stand up, N-words.’
‘I just remember that there was like a consistent chant of ‘stand up, N-words’ during the anthem and right after,’ one of the players, who remains anonymous, told The Guardian.
‘And when brought to the attention of the BYU coaching staff there was no real response or sense of, like, alarm.’
She added: ‘I felt disappointed but not surprised. Backlash for kneeling was not new for our group but to hear that in person was shocking.
‘I think both the fans and coaching staff knew we wouldn’t cancel the game after the incident, which once again shows this could be part of a bigger cultural issue within BYU as an institution.’
Five women’s soccer players from a visiting team reportedly said they heard the N-word being directed at them from the BYU crowd
The Guardian reported that four of the player’s teammates confirmed they also heard the chants.
The report adds that a sixth member of the team said they did not hear the chants but that the BYU coach was informed and ‘seemed shocked’.
The coach reportedly asked for another announcement to be made ‘about how fans should behave’.
The sixth player claimed that the announcement was made but no other action was taken ‘to her knowledge’.
As the players on the visiting team wanted to continue, the game did go ahead.
‘Your inquiry is the first time we are hearing this specific concern,’ said Jon McBride, BYU’s associate athletic director for communications and media strategy, told The Guardian.
‘[At] the match, which occurred [in 2021], BYU responded to a concern from the [visiting team] about fan reaction when players knelt during the national anthem. A public announcement, similar to one made earlier, reminding fans to be respectful was repeated, and the game proceeded.
‘We are not aware of any additional concerns being brought up during the game or any time thereafter. As we have stated, BYU will not tolerate racism in any form.’
The allegation comes a month after the college faced another claim of racism involving a crowd at BYU.
In August, Rachel Richardson, a Black volleyball player at Duke University, said that she and her fellow teammates were called racial slurs during the match.
Duke’s Rachel Richardson (right) says she was racially heckled at a match against BYU
Following the match, a fan pointed out by Richardson and Duke staff was banned from all future BYU athletic events.
However, BYU released a report of an internal investigation into the fans in the student section and found no evidence of slurs, reversing the decision to ban the fan.
‘As part of our commitment to take any claims of racism seriously, BYU has completed its investigation into the allegation that racial heckling and slurs took place at the Duke vs. BYU women’s volleyball match on August 26,’ a BYU athletic department statement read.
Richardson says fans used the n-word repeatedly during the match, directed towards her
‘We reviewed all available video and audio recordings, including security footage and raw footage from all camera angles taken by BYUtv of the match, with broadcasting audio removed (to ensure that the noise from the stands could be heard more clearly).
‘We also reached out to more than 50 individuals who attended the event: Duke athletic department personnel and student-athletes, BYU athletic department personnel and student-athletes, event security and management and fans who were in the arena that evening, including many of the fans in the on-court student section.
‘From our extensive review, we have not found any evidence to corroborate the allegation that fans engaged in racial heckling or uttered racial slurs at the event. As we stated earlier, we would not tolerate any conduct that would make a student-athlete feel unsafe. That is the reason for our immediate response and our thorough investigation.
BYU athletic director Tom Holmoe spoke to students after the incident, telling them racism would not be tolerated by the athletic staff
‘As a result of our investigation, we have lifted the ban on the fan who was identified as having uttered racial slurs during the match. We have not found any evidence that that individual engaged in such an activity. BYU sincerely apologizes to that fan for any hardship the ban has caused.
‘Our fight is against racism, not against any individual or any institution. Each person impacted has strong feelings and experiences, which we honor, and we encourage others to show similar civility and respect. We remain committed to rooting out racism wherever it is found. We hope we can all join together in that important fight.
‘There will be some who assume we are being selective in our review. To the contrary, we have tried to be as thorough as possible in our investigation, and we renew our invitation for anyone with evidence contrary to our findings to come forward and share it.’
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