PROVO, Utah — Editor's note: This article discusses the usage of a racial slur, and it is visible in a tweet linked below. Reader discretion is advised.
Duke University's women's volleyball team is in Provo, Utah for the doTERRA Classic tournament. But during their match against Brigham Young University on Friday, one person in the BYU student section reportedly yelled out a racial slur during the game.
Lesa Pamplin, who is running for a judge seat in Tarrant County, Texas, said in a tweet her goddaughter on Duke's team was called the n-word every time she served the ball. According to Pamplin, sophomore Rachel Richardson was traumatized by what happened and needed to be consoled by her family.
Pamplin also said a police officer had to be put by the BYU student section bench, and that Richardson - who Pamplin said is the team's only Black starter - was threatened by a white man later on.
On Saturday, BYU Athletics released a statement saying Duke identified the person in the student section. The department said that person, who was not a student, is now banned.
The statement from BYU athletics follows:
All of God's children deserve love and respect, and BYU Athletics is completely committed to leading out in abandoning attitudes and actions of prejudice of any kind and rooting out racism. When a student-athlete or a fan comes to a BYU sporting event, we expect that they will be treated with love and respect and feel safe on our campus. It is for this reason BYU has banned a fan who was identified by Duke during last night's volleyball match from all BYU athletic venues. Although this fan was sitting in BYU's student section, this person is not a BYU student.
To say we are extremely disheartened in the actions of a small number of fans in last night's volleyball match in the Smith Fieldhouse between BYU and Duke is not strong enough language. We will not tolerate behavior of this kind. Specifically, the use of a racial slur at any of our athletic events is absolutely unacceptable and BYU Athletics holds a zero-tolerance approach to this behavior. We wholeheartedly apologize to Duke University and especially its student-athletes competing last night for what they experienced. We want BYU athletic events to provide a safe environment for all, and there is no place for behaviors like this in our venues.
Duke's athletic leadership also confirmed the events from Friday night and said security concerns prompted a Saturday night match against Rider University to be moved to an alternate location.
"First and foremost, our priority is the well-being of Duke student-athletes," said Dena King, vice president and director of athletics for Duke. "They should always have the opportunity to compete in an inclusive, anti-racist environment which promotes equality and fair play. Following extremely unfortunate circumstances at Friday night's match at BYU, we are compelled to shift today's match against Rider to a different location to afford both teams the safest atmosphere for competition. We are appreciative of the support from BYU's athletic administration as we navigate this troubling situation. I have been in touch with the student-athletes who have been deeply impacted, will continue to support them in every way possible and look forward to connecting further upon their return from Provo."
WCNC Charlotte reached out to Pamplin to discuss what happened, and she shared this statement:
For far too long, individuals have been subjected to racist slurs, taunts, and threats like the unfortunate incident that happened to my goddaughter, Rachel Richardson, at BYU. It is unfortunate that this incident has only received attention after I tweeted about it. Every American should be enraged that a young lady was subjected to hateful, demeaning language, and we should be even more outraged that it took a tweet from me in Tarrant County, Texas to bring this incident to light.
We must, as a country, do better. We must demand that the coaches to whom we entrust our children stand up for them and keep them safe. Many adults failed my goddaughter. It is our duty – each of us – to use our voices in the spaces we occupy to protect and advocate for each other.
On behalf of my goddaughter, Rachel, and her parents, thank you for the outpouring of support.
WCNC Charlotte has also reached out to both universities for further comment, along with the NCAA. Jon McBride, an associate director and communications coordinator for BYU Athletics, shared more details with WCNC Charlotte:
Following last night’s volleyball game, we spent hours reviewing video of the event, speaking with our event management and security staffs to try and figure out what exactly occurred and how it might’ve happened. This behavior cannot be acceptable. To any of us.
When last night’s behavior was initially reported by Duke, there was no individual pointed out and despite BYU security and event management’s efforts, they were not able to identify a perpetrator of racial slurs. It wasn’t until after the game that an individual was identified by Duke who they believed were uttering the slurs and exhibiting problematic behaviors. That is the individual who has been banned.
We understand that the Duke players’ experience is what matters here. They felt unsafe and hurt, and we were unable to address that during the game in a manner that was sufficient. For that, we truly do apologize, and we are examining our processes and practices to do everything in our power to make sure something like this doesn’t happen again.
We commit to increased communication with our event staff to handle these types of situations better and having further discussion with our student section, educating them on our fan code of conduct.
