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| Photo Credit: AP. |
PROVO, Utah (AP) — An investigation by Brigham Young University into allegations that fans engaged in racial heckling and uttered racial slurs at a Duke volleyball player last month found no evidence to support the claim.
BYU issued
the results of its investigation into the Aug. 26 match on Friday, reiterating
it will not tolerate conduct threatening any student-athlete.
The school
said it reached out to more than 50 people who attended the event, including
athletic department personnel and student-athletes from both schools, event
security and management and fans who were in the arena. It also reviewed audio
and video recordings and raw footage from the match.
As a result
of the investigation, the university said it has lifted a ban on a fan who was
identified as directing racial slurs toward Duke sophomore Rachel Richardson
during the match. It also apologized to the fan for any hardship the ban
caused.
Duke
athletic director Nina King issued a statement standing by Richardson and the
rest of her team.
“The 18
members of the Duke University volleyball team are exceptionally strong women
who represent themselves, their families, and Duke University with the utmost
integrity,” she said Friday after BYU issued its statement. “We unequivocally
stand with and champion them, especially when their character is called into
question. Duke Athletics believes in respect, equality and inclusiveness, and
we do not tolerate hate and bias.”
Lesa
Pamplin, Richardson’s godmother who initially drew attention to the alleged
slur by tweeting about it, said in an emailed statement that she does not
accept BYU’s findings.
“BYU’s
statement today does not change my position. In fact, the statement and the
‘findings’ are in keeping with what I — and many others — anticipated,” Pamplin
said. “Daily across America, the burden of proof — in instances like these
involving people of color, as well as marginalized people, economically
disadvantaged people, and disempowered people — is shifted unfairly and without
hesitation.”
In the
aftermath of the Aug. 26 match, South Carolina women’s basketball program
canceled a home-and-home series with BYU. Gamecocks coach Dawn Staley said she
did not want to put her players in the situation that she said Richardson had
experienced.
The
Gamecocks were scheduled to start the season at home against BYU on Nov. 7,
then play at the Utah campus during the 2023-24 season.
Staley
released a statement through the school Friday, standing by her earlier
decision to cancel the series.
“After my
personal research, I made a decision for the well-being of my team,” Staley
said. “I regret that my university, my athletics director Ray Tanner and others
got drawn into the criticism of a choice that I made.”
BYU said it
remains committed to rooting out racism wherever it is found. The school also
said it understands some will criticize its investigation as being selective in
its 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,” the school said.
BYU is owned
by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, widely known as the Mormon
church. Race relations is one of the most sensitive issues for a faith that
until 1978 banned Black church members serving in the lay priesthood, going on
missions or getting married in temples.
The Salt
Lake City-based religion has worked to improve race relations, including
calling out white supremacy and launching a formal alliance with the NAACP, but
some Black church members and scholars say discriminatory opinions linger from
a ban rooted in a belief that black skin was a curse.
The number
of Black church members has increased but still only accounts for small portion
of the 16 million worldwide members. Not one serves in the highest levels of
global leadership.
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