An Open Letter to the UL Lafayette

Administration Regarding the

Punishment of Four Student Athletes
To: Coach Mark Hudspeth, President Savoie, and the UL Lafayette faculty and staff
The universitys website proudly proclaims our university doesnt embrace
diversity; it celebrates diversity. This celebration of diversity has attracted
members of various ethnic, religious, socioeconomic backgrounds and sexual
identities to pursue an education at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. It is
behind the walls of our school where we hope to find acceptance, tolerance, and a
safe space to unabashedly exist as we are.
It goes without question that the presidential campaign of Donald Trump was r ife
with hate speech directed towards the nations most vulnerable groups of people,
including African-Americans, Hispanics, immigrants, members of the LGBTQIA+
community, and women. Unsurprisingly, the vitriolic comments made by Mr. Trump
inspired the Ku Klux Klan, an organization infamous for their murderous hatred
towards people of color, to offer their support to his campaign efforts. The fears
experienced by many of our grandparents resurfaced as our status of being a
minority became contentious in the only place we had ever called home. Without
warning we were under attack.
The day following the election, November 9, 2016, the campus was defaced with
messages that echoed the bigotry of President-elect Donald Trump. These messages
included Fuck Your Safe Space and Build A Wall. Much to the chagrin of many
minority students on campus, after being made aware of the comments, the
university made no mention of the incident, their plans for inclusion going forward,
or reaffirmed their devotion to celebrating diversity in an arguably vague letter
issued by President Savoie later that same day. Instead, President Savoie restated
the right to free speech for every American citizen.
It is a wonder then why four members of the Ragin Cajun football team were
reprimanded for exercising this right. The young men can be heard singing along to
a popular rap song, F*ck Donald Trump, in the schools locker room in a video
created the same Tuesday the vandalism occurred. Coach Hudspeth allows profanity
and rap music in the football locker room. Previous videos exist of the players
swearing as they sing along to rap songs while in uniform. The celebration of rap
culture is nothing new at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, a school that
boasts of its devotion to diversity. The university hosted Lil Wayne, a rapper
notorious for his use of vulgar language in his music, during the spring semester of
this same year. The Cajun Dome sold out and the event was considered a success.

Why then is the enjoyment of rap music, a unique form of cultural ex pression
especially in the African-American community, is only accepted if it is commoditized
by the university? Why has the university chosen to punish players for exercising
their freedom of speech? Does freedom of speech not extend to rap lyrics infused
with profanity? Why have the student athletes been punished for protesting in the
safe space allotted to them as students and champions of the university? Does the
university take umbrage with the crudeness of rap lyrics or the denouncing of
Donald Trump? Why are the players comments against a man who fans the flames
of intolerance condemned so harshly? Why is some free speech protecte d while
others are persecuted?
For the sake of clarity, the university must move towards transparency in what is
and isnt allowed under freedom of speech. In addition to this, the school must
remain unbiased and consistent in their issuing of disciplinary action. It does not
follow that students should be punished for using profanity in the locker room when
it was permissible only a week previously. Nor is it acceptable for a university to
censor a students right to freedom of speech if that speech does not cause harm to
others. By reprimanding these athletes a dangerous precedent has been set in the
establishment of a Big Brother relationship between the university and its
students.
The four athletes recently disciplined have dedicated themselves to bringing victory
to the UL Lafayettes football team. They have chosen to play under the banner of
the Ragin Cajun. They have arisen to the challenge at each game. As these athletes
face a hardship known exclusively to minorities and their allies, as they seek a safe
space to communicate their frustrations, the question remains: can they depend on
their school to support and protect them as our country revisits its familiar history
of intolerance? Can the students of UL rely on the university to protect our
inalienable rights? Will the university arise to its promise of celebrating diversity?
Or will it bend beneath the pressure of bigotry?
We implore the university to lift the disciplinary action against the four football
players and to continue in celebrating in the diversity that makes the University of
Louisiana at Lafayette great.
Sincerely,
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
Black Male Leadership Association
Black Woman Leadership Association
Students for the Advancement of Women
African Student Association
National Pan-Hellenic Council
Black Student Union