(University of) Arizona has apologized for a derogatory chant aimed at BYU following the Cougars’ 96-95 upset of the No. 19 Wildcats in Tucson on Saturday night.
Per video of the incident, Wildcats fans chanted an expletive and “Mormons” toward BYU, the flagship school of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as players exited the floor.
If you follow the video at the link you clearly hear that chant in the background.
We can play the “Mad Libs” game where if you swap out “Mormons” for say a racial group or Muslims those students would already have been kicked off campus.
As I have mentioned before, anti-Mormon bigotry is a pervasive form of acceptable hate among our elites and on our campuses. In fact as evidenced by the video, they revel in it. This doesn’t go into the fact that nearly 7% of Arizona is LDS and that church and its members have played a vital role in the state’s history.
I know LDS members take these things in stride, they have seen far worse, but enough is enough. I would hope that the AZ Speaker of the House and President of the Senate have already gotten the Chair of the Arizona Board of Regents and the UofA President on the phone for a nice friendly chat and informed them of the rough ride ahead in the Legislature if they doesn’t deal with the hate.
I’m sure with some analysis of the video feeds we can find the people responsible and I’m willing to bet they are students.
I have two possible solutions. Note neither them involve academic punishment We’ll keep it to the level athletic events and facilities. I guess we could be Trumpian and make an outrageous opening mood (say civil rights charges) to get leverage, but this is just little ole me.
One, the next time BYU is in Tucson for a game eliminate the student section. In fact keep those seats empty. Make it a very public reminder that students are adults and need to behave as such.
Two, from the video identify the worst 100 offenders and ban them from all UofA athletic facilities for a period of five years on pain of prosecution for trespass. I think that would be appropriate. Notice I said “facilities” and not “events” because UofA holds its graduation ceremony in the basketball arena Sorry you kids, cannot come to your graduation, you are banned from the facility. Explain to your families why.
Next week, how to deal with pro-Hamas demonstrators and students who rush the court/field.