Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez said the school would change its stadium policies following last Saturday’s incident where a fan wore an Obama mask with a noose around its neck.
“I am deeply troubled by the incident from last Saturday’s game, and I am sorry for the harm it caused,” Alvarez said Wednesday in a statement. “I am determined that nothing like this will happen again.”
The changes to stadium policies will go into effect before the Badgers return home for a Nov. 12 contest against Illinois.
Under current Camp Randall Stadium policies, fans are not allowed to wear masks upon entering the stadium, but are allowed to wear them once inside. The entire costume included one person dressed as Donald Trump holding the hangman’s noose, which was placed around the neck of the person wearing the Obama mask.
At the @UWBadgers game and there is a man with a mask of President Obama and a noose. This is racism, why was this allowed into the stadium? pic.twitter.com/zKEqhdDYny
— ???? (@woahohkatie) October 29, 2016
Members of guest services asked the fan wearing the Obama mask to remove the offensive parts of the costume and the fan complied. The school later issued a statement saying, “while repugnant and counter to the values of the university and athletic department, was an exercise of the individual’s right to free speech.”
However, the incident sparked a strong response from some advocacy groups, including the University of Wisconsin-Madison Black and African-American Alumni, which issued a letter to the university expressing “deep concern” with the way the situation was handled.
“To be clear, we honor that free speech is a fundamental entitlement in our country,” the letter states. “As such, there is an understandable rationale for permitting someone into a stadium despite wearing offensive attire. However, reasonable minds would agree that what occurred at Camp Randall was not protected speech. Rather, the costume incited race-based hatred by invoking lynching symbols, historically understood as a racist hate crime. As a result, the official response was in error. We are concerned that our alma mater has not taken reasonable steps to adequately train and publicize that the university is no place for a racially hostile environment.”
The group also questioned how the fan was able to bring the noose into the stadium in the first place because of Camp Randall’s current rules, which ban “dangerous or inappropriate” objects from entering the stadium.
Alvarez said he met with several campus and community leaders to discuss the issue and hopes new changes will prevent further incidents.
“I appreciated the opportunity to meet with a number of community leaders and students this afternoon to discuss our stadium policies,” Alvarez said Wednesday. “Our plan, before our next home football game, is to have a revised policy in place. Our department is committed to working collaboratively to make our stadium a great and safe place for fans to watch a football game.”
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Graham Watson is the editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at dr.saturday@ymail.com or follow her on Twitter! Follow @YahooDrSaturday
