USC, Staley overreacted by canceling BYU series, conservative SC political group says

Members of the South Carolina House Freedom Caucus say the University of South Carolina and women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley overreacted when they canceled a two-game series with Brigham Young University after an alleged racial slur.

The decision to nix the series came Friday, exactly one week after a BYU-Duke volleyball game in which a player, who is Black, reported that she and Black teammates were ”racially heckled throughout the entirety of the match.”

The S.C. caucus in a letter directed to Staley and USC athletic director Ray Tanner said USC’s decision to cancel their games with BYU was an “ill-advised overreaction,” and argued the decision was made with a lack of evidence that racially insensitive remarks were made.

“We share the important belief that there is no place for racism in sports or society. We also share the common belief in fairness, which is a fundamental basis for athletic competition,” the S.C. caucus wrote in a letter it shared to its Facebook page Wednesday afternoon. “An equally important belief, that I hope we share is the cherished principle of the presumption of innocence.”

The S.C. Freedom Caucus is a group of 14 conservative House lawmakers, none of whom are Black.

The group says it wants more answers and information surrounding USC’s decision to call off women’s basketball games between BYU and USC scheduled for Nov. 7 in Columbia and another in Utah during the 2023-24 season. The caucus said it would seek documents through Freedom of Information Act requests related to the alleged incident at the Duke-BYU match and USC’s discussions on the cancellation of the two future games.

A phone call a University of South Carolina spokesman was not immediately returned Thursday.

“My fellow African-American teammates and I were targeted and racially heckled throughout the entirety of the match,” Duke volleyball player Rachel Richardson said in a Sunday statement. “The slurs and comments grew into threats, which caused us to feel unsafe.”

According to the Salt Lake Tribune, BYU banned a Utah Valley student who Duke identified as the person who made the comments. Campus police and the school’s athletic department reviewed video footage from the Aug. 26 match, the newspaper reported, and said the accused fan did not appear to yell any slurs. According to reporting by the Salt Lake Tribune, BYU has not discredited Richardson’s claims and said the school continues to investigate the allegations.

The Freedom Caucus, in its letter, also asked if the basketball series would be rescheduled and if USC would issue a public apology if the allegations of a racial slur are not true.

“Given the totality of the circumstances, it seems the University of South Carolina rushed to appease the loudest voices of the far left by ‘canceling’ BYU both literally and figuratively without respect for the truth,” the Freedom Caucus wrote. “It is our opinion the university acted arbitrarily and capriciously without consideration or regard for the facts and circumstances.”

Speaking with reporters at Sunday’s Southern 500 NASCAR event at Darlington Raceway, Staley said she vetted the situation before making the decision to cancel the BYU series.

“I didn’t do it to condemn BYU. This was a selfish decision,” Staley said. “I was only thinking about South Carolina women’s basketball. I wanted to handle it on my own and didn’t involve anyone else. I wanted to make sure our players didn’t have to endure that. If something were to happen in that manner, I don’t have the words to comfort them. I’d rather just not put ourselves in that situation.”

State Rep. RJ May, R-Lexington, who is the vice chair of the Freedom Caucus, told The State on Thursday that he believes BYU acted swiftly to address concerns brought up by Duke University.

“Is our policy now that any time any fan, whether associated with the school or not, engages in stupid, criminal ignorant behavior, we now cancel games with that university?” May said. “Is the university accepting responsibility for behavior of all its fans no matter if they have a relationship with the university or not?”

— The State’s Lou Bezjak contributed to this story.