BYU athletics review finds no evidence of racist language during Duke volleyball match

BYU athletics announced on Friday that after a lengthy investigation, it has found no evidence that Duke volleyball player Rachel Richardson was racially heckled or had racist remarks directed at her from the stands at a recent match at BYU.

The official announcement from BYU states that “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.”

Previously, a fan identified in the student section at the Aug. 26 match had been banned from all future BYU events. That person was not a BYU student, according to the university. In light of the conclusions of their own investigation, BYU has lifted the ban and apologized for it, stating that “we have not found any evidence that that individual engaged in such an activity.”

This alleged episode came to light when Richardson’s godmother, who attend the match, took to Twitter to say that racial slurs were being directed at Richardson when she was serving, and that extra security was placed by the Duke bench. Richardson’s godmother, Lesa Pamplin, has since locked her Twitter account.

Richardson herself later released a statement.

#morethanavolleyballplayer pic.twitter.com/JJsofA6VgI

— rachel ♡ (@rachrich03) August 28, 2022

BYU also sought to get ahead of criticism of their self-investigation, noting that “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.”

According to BYU, they “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.”

Read Richardson’s full statement below:

“Hello my name is Rachel Richardson, I’m a sophomore on the Duke University Women’s volleyball team. Friday night in our match against Brigham Young University my fellow African American teammates and I were targeted and racially heckled throughout the entirety of the match. The slurs and comments grew into threats which caused us to feel unsafe. Both the officials and BYU coaching staff were made aware of the incident during the game, but failed to take the necessary steps to stop the unacceptable behavior and create a safe environment. As a result, my teammates and I had to struggle just to get through the rest of the game, instead of just being able to focus on our playing so that we could compete at the highest level possible. They also failed to adequately address the situation immediately following the game when it was brought to their attention again. No athlete, regardless of their race should ever be subject to such hostile conditions. God has called each of us to be members of one body, while we may have our differences they should never divide us (Romans 12:4-5).

That said, I do not believe this is in anyway a reflection of what the BYU athletes stand for. The girls on the team played a great game and showed nothing but respect and good sportsmanship on and off the court. Once notified, the BYU athletic director, Tom Holmoe, was quick to act in a very respectful and genuine manor. He is at the forefront of ensuring that the BYU athletic staff and players undergo education and training to better handle and prevent the racist, ignorant, and asinine behaviors that were exhibited by their fans during the match.

It is neither my nor Duke Volleyball’s goal to call BYU’s athletics out but rather to call them up. This is not the first time this has happened in college athletics and sadly it likely will not be the last time. However, each time it happens we as student athletes, coaches, fans, and administrators have a chance to educate those who act in hateful ways. This is an opportunity to dig deep into closed cultures which tolerate amoral racist acts, such as those exhibited Friday night, and change them for the better. It is not enough to indicate that you are not racist, instead you must demonstrate that you are anti-racist.

My team and I were fortunate enough to go through ‘A Long Talk,’ which is an educational series on the roots of racism and how to be an activist in not just dealing with racism, but preventing and ending it. This helped to equip us to deal with the situation in a mature manner rather than to react in a retaliatory manner.

I want to express my gratitude to the Duke Athletics Administration for being quick to act on my teams’ behalf. Additionally, I’d like to thank my coaching staff and teammates for immediately dealing with the situation to the best of their ability the minute they were made aware of it. Further, I would like to thank anyone who has reached out to make me aware that you stand with us.

Finally I understand some people would have liked more to happen in the moment, such as an immediate protest and refusal to play on. Although the heckling eventually took a mental toll on me, I refused to allow it to stop me from doing what I love to do and what I came to BYU to do; which was to play volleyball. I refused to allow those racist bigots to feel any degree of satisfaction from thinking that their comments had ‘gotten to me.’ So, I pushed through and finished the game. Therefore, on behalf of my African American teammates and I, we do not want to receive pity or to be looked at as helpless. We do not feel as though we are victims of some tragic unavoidable event. We are proud to be young African American women; we are proud to be Duke student athletes, and we are proud to stand up against racism.”