FORT SMITH — The top athletics official at the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith at a panel discussion on race Tuesday agreed that remarks by the men’s basketball coach were insensitive.
But while Curtis Janz, the athletic director, and Chancellor Terisa Riley also described steps underway to improve intercultural understanding on campus, several in the crowd of approximately 150 people spoke out against the lack of action taken by UAFS against Coach Jim Boone.
An internal investigation found no “substantial” evidence of racial discrimination by Boone after a former player, Tyler Williams, said publicly earlier this month he had been dismissed from the team in August following the coach’s disapproval of Williams’ hairstyle.
Williams, who is black, wears his hair in dreadlocks. Boone did not order Williams to change his hairstyle, but Williams has said that remarks by Boone, who is white, caused him to feel “devalued and disrespected” and, in a letter, that “Boone’s action of policing black hair is a form of pervasive racism and bias.
An attorney for Boone denied any racial discrimination, calling Boone “admittedly old-school” in attitudes about hair.
Audio of a meeting in August between Boone and Williams and his family was part of the complaint and investigation, with the recording published by The Oklahoman news outlet and some social media accounts. Williams now attends Southern Nazarene University in Oklahoma.
Boone was not present at the event organized by the UAFS Black Student Association. The group’s president, Karissa Cole, said in an email Boone was never disinvited from attending but that he was not asked to be a panelist to avoid having a “trial.”
One panelist, a mental health counselor from the community, Crystal Lougin, said “where insensitivity comes into play” is when Boone spoke dismissively after Williams remarked about an anti-discrimination law in California, stating that Boone appeared unwilling to listen. The law, passed this year, prohibits discrimination based on hairstyles, with advocacy groups in favor of the law, including the National Urban League, stating that grooming policies disproportionately affect people of color.
“That comment that was on the audio was bad,” Janz said after Lougin’s remarks.
Janz also said a person cannot always know what might be offensive to someone else.
“If it offends you, it offends you, and I should have enough soul to say that I’m sorry it offended you, and I need to find out why. So, the sensitivity part is individual and it’s very important.”
Andre Good, a member of the city’s board of directors, said that a dozen years ago he wore dreadlocks that extended to his back. Good said he wanted to know why Boone remained on the UAFS staff, after others in the crowd—mostly from the community, and about half African-American—had asked questions related to holding Boone accountable.
Riley repeated a statement she had made earlier in the evening and in a campus-wide email, that there will not be any hair policy for student athletes at UAFS.
“I also need to be really clear, that I believe that people can do better and will be held to much higher expectations,” Riley said.
She also said at the event that players on the team supported Boone, a veteran coach of 33 years but in his first year at UAFS.
Alexsis Brown, a player on the women’s basketball team who is black, told the panel that students on the school’s sports teams should be given an explanation and apology.
“It’s hard to be here and want to be here and want to stay here knowing that your culture may or may not be accepted,” said Brown, who attended Little Rock Central High School.
Riley and Janz did not respond to a question asking if Boone would be required to apologize publicly.