Brigham Young University banned a spectator from attending events at any of its athletic venues after an incident in which racial slurs were directed toward Black Duke players during a volleyball match on its campus Friday night.
In a statement issued Saturday, university officials said the banned spectator is not a BYU student but was sitting in the student section during the No. 10-ranked Cougars’ 3-1 win over Duke in Provo, Utah. A crowd of 5,507, a record for a volleyball match at BYU’s Smith Fieldhouse, attended the match.
“To say we are extremely disheartened in the actions of a small number of fans in last night’s volleyball match in Smith Fieldhouse between BYU and Duke is not strong enough language,” the statement said. “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.”
