BYU ends ban on fan accused of slur against Duke athlete, godchild of Fort Worth lawyer
Brigham Young athletics lifted the ban on the fan who Duke’s volleyball team accused of directing racial slurs at a Black player, who is the goddaughter of a Fort Worth lawyer, during a game on its campus last month.
In a statement Friday, BYU said its investigation — which involved interviews with more than 50 people who attended the event and reviewing video and audio footage — found no corroborating evidence. It also apologized to the person who was banned.
Duke sophomore outside hitter Rachel Richardson, who is Black, was the target of the slur, according to Lesa Pamplin, a Fort Worth attorney and candidate for the judgeship in Tarrant County Criminal Court No. 5 who is Richardson’s godmother.
“As we stated earlier, we would not tolerate any conduct that would make a student-athlete feel unsafe,” the BYU statement said. “That is the reason for our immediate response and our thorough investigation.”
But, the Salt Lake City Tribune reported, an investigation by the West Coast Conference found that while investigators couldn’t determine if racist slurs were said or by whom, it could not rule out that they were said.
Before and after BYU’s 3-1 win over Duke at Smith Fieldhouse on Aug. 26, Richardson said she heard racial slurs yelled in her direction numerous times when the Blue Devils served on the end of the court near the student section.
BYU placed a campus police officer near the Duke bench following her complaints.
“My fellow African-American teammates and I were targeted and racially heckled throughout the entirety of the match,” Richardson said in a statement on Aug. 28. “The slurs and comments grew into threats, which caused us to feel unsafe.”
In an interview with The News & Observer, Duke freshman volleyball player Christina Barrow said she didn’t hear any such language but that Richardson told her teammates during the game about it.
Despite the decision to remove the ban from the fan accused of using racial slurs, Duke University’s vice president and director of athletics Nina King said in a statement Friday that she stands with the Duke volleyball 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,” King said. “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.”
Star-Telegram staff writer James Hartley contributed to this report.
This story was originally published September 14, 2022 at 9:59 PM.