(Reuters) – Brigham Young University said on Friday an investigation it carried out could not corroborate allegations that its volleyball fans yelled racial slurs at a Black player from Duke University.
A Duke player said last month she and her fellow Black teammates were taunted with slurs throughout an Aug. 26 match in Provo, Utah. BYU repudiated the alleged slurs at that time and said it would investigate, and it also banned a fan identified by Duke players as yelling racist slurs from attending any BYU athletic events.
But in a written statement on Friday, the BYU Athletics Department said that its investigation could find no evidence to support the allegations.
BYU said it reviewed all available audio and video footage, along with video from security cameras and said it reached out to more than 50 people who attended the game, including Duke personnel and athletes. BYU said it had lifted the ban on the fan, who remained unidentified.
Despite not finding evidence slurs were yelled, BYU said in the statement that “we would not tolerate any conduct that would make a student athlete feel unsafe.”
Nina King, the director of athletics at Duke, said in a written statement on Friday that “we unequivocally stand with” the Duke volleyball players who made the accusations, “especially when their character is called into question.”
On Aug. 28, Duke volleyball player Rachel Richardson, who is the only Black starter on the team, alleged in a statement on Twitter that she and her teammates repeatedly heard racial slurs yelled at them from the BYU student section of the stands.
Richardson said BYU officials and coaching staff were alerted to the situation during and immediately after the game, “but [they] failed to take the necessary steps to stop the unacceptable behavior.”
(Reporting by Brad Brooks in Lubbock, Texas; Editing by Daniel Wallis)