What to Do About BYU and its Racist Culture
More troubling stories coming from the Mormon flagship university.
A month after racial slurs were hurled at a Black female Duke volleyball player, more allegations of racist behavior have surfaced involving Brigham Young University fans and inaction from school officials.
The most recent incident occurred when Rachel Richardson, who plays volleyball for Duke, was called the N-word several times during a game at BYU. She reported the incident, and eventually a police officer was assigned to the Duke bench, but BYU coaches and officials were accused of inaction.
BYU’s athletic director Tom Holmoe supposedly took steps to address the incident, including banning a fan who was involved in using the racist slurs. But later, the ban was rescinded after the university said their internal investigation revealed no evidence of racist behavior.
The British newspaper The Guardian is reporting that five women soccer players from an anonymous college team were victims in 2021 of behavior similar to that reported by Richardson.
The players were kneeling during the national anthem to protest racial injustice. One of the players told the newspaper:
“I remember that there was like a consistent chant of ‘stand-up, N-words’ during the anthem and right after. And when brought to the attention of the BYU coaching staff, there was no real response or sense of, like, alarm…I felt disappointed but not surprised…this could be part of a bigger cultural issue within BYU as an institution.”
This young lady’s account was backed up by four of her teammates, who said they also heard the racist chants. Another team member said the BYU coach was told about the chants, and an announcement was made warning the fans about their behavior, but no other visible actions were taken.
When BYU was contacted by The Guardian about last year’s incident, an official acknowledged that the visiting school had expressed “concern,” and stated that the school had made a public announcement to fans.
One incident could be excused as an isolated incident. Two incidents suggest a pattern, and sport journalists who launch a thorough investigation may likely find even more troubling behavior on the part of BYU fans and officials.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and BYU have a history of racist, discriminatory behavior. Blacks were banned from Mormon temples and the priesthood until 1978. An internal report released by BYU last year characterized the findings as pointing to
“Many BIPOC (Black, indigenous and people of color) students at BYU feel isolated and unsafe as a result of their experiences with racism at BYU.”
The study’s findings include the damning facts that students of Color report routine racial discrimination from both students and faculty, a lack of diversity in admissions and faculty, and no clear way to report or address racist incidents.
Given all of this, the following actions must occur:
· An NCAA-led or an NCAA-instigated independent investigation of BYU. Appropriate sanctions and punishments should be considered, including the death penalty for its teams and lifetime bans for fans who commit racist behavior at sporting events
· New and stringent NCAA policies to deal with racist fan behavior and punishments and sanctions, including the death penalty, for colleges and universities that don’t address discriminatory behavior
Despite their pleas of innocence, it’s obvious that BYU is playing championship-level CYA.