When BYU football opened its 2020 season amid a global pandemic, members of the team arrived at Navy’s stadium wearing T-shirts with messages of hope and love adorning both sides. They read “We Are One” on the front and “Love One Another” on the back.
Those T-shirts returned Thursday night when the Cougar volleyball team hosted Utah State at the Smith Fieldhouse.
BYU players went through warmups wearing the shirts, nearly one week after Duke player Rachel Richardson said she was targeted with racial slurs during her team’s match against the Cougars in Provo last Friday.
Her comments sparked an investigation into the incident, as well as a firestorm of commentary from around the country on how BYU handled the situation.
The T-shirts proclaimed the same message BYU athletic director Tom Holmoe shared in an editorial for the Deseret News, in which he condemned racism while acknowledging the need to learn and grow from situations like these.
The T-shirts weren’t the only noticeable change at Thursday’s game.
The BYU student section, the ROC, previously occupied the rows of seats on the court at the south end, but fans were no longer there — instead, that area was reserved for other teams participating in the event (the Cougars are hosting the BYU Nike Invitational this weekend.)
BYU also played a video outlining the school’s updated fan code of conduct prior to the match. It will also be shared at future BYU sports events, according to BYUtv.org.