Offensive Chants Towards BYU Must End — Universities Must Take Action

BYU players, coaches and fans will say they are used to it, but it doesn’t make it right.

Last week against Providence, a private, faith-based Catholic university, hosted BYU as part of a Big East-Big 12 battle between the two conferences. Unfortunately, like what has happened at other institutions across the country, BYU representatives were subjected to religious bigotry and profanity-laced chants targeting their university and its affiliation with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

A video posted on X (Twitter) shows Providence fans chanting “F— the Mormons” over and over again. It wasn’t just a one-off situation either as fans and video confirmed that the profanity and religious bigotry chants were going on throughout the game.

“F*** the Mormons” chant going strong all night @PCFriarsmbb @PCAthletics 😂 pic.twitter.com/0SDEMR2ADs

— BYU Florida 🐆⚔️ (@BYUFlorida) December 4, 2024

Providence vice president and athletic director Steven Napolillo acknowledged the incident and condemned the behavior. He said the chants from the student body do not represent the school and what they stand for. Below is his tweet:

“I want to apologize to @BYUMBB, their coaches & institution for unacceptable chants by our student body tonight. Once it was brought to my attention, I went to the student body & had them stop. That does not represent who Providence College is & what we stand for. We are sorry.”

I appreciate it, but the growing list of people commenting and replying doubling down on their bigotry kinda shows it is what you stand for.

— BYU Florida 🐆⚔️ (@BYUFlorida) December 4, 2024

Religious Bigotry Against BYU: A Troubling Pattern

This incident is not a one-off, but part of a troubling pattern.

This is just the latest of several instances over the past few years — that has been recorded — where fans and students have been recorded openly chanting religious bigotry and profanity towards the university.

In 2022, Oregon Duck fans were filmed yelling a profanity-laced chant against BYU during the second half of the game against the Cougars. The video was posted on social media, prompting Utah Gov. Spencer Cox to tweet, “Religious bigotry alive and celebrated in Oregon.”

The Pit Crew, which represents Oregon’s student section, issued an apology on Twitter, saying, “We do not condone or support any hateful speech directed towards one’s religion and are ashamed of those who participated.”

The University of Oregon also issued a statement apologizing for the chants.

“There is no place for hate, bias or bigotry at the University of Oregon, said Kris Winter, the university’s interim vice president for the Division of Student Life. “These actions are simply unacceptable. We will investigate, and we call on our students and campus community to refuse to accept or tolerate this type of behavior.”

One high school quarterback (TC Manumaleuna II) who was visiting with his family at the game, heard the chants which were directed at his faith which led him and his family to leave the game early.

A year before that (2021), USC fans did the same thing during their loss to BYU. The university later apologized for it. However, as is always the case, too little, too late.

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Double Standards: Diversity And Inclusion? Nope, Not For BYU

It’s the million dollar question. Why are other religious groups and organizations off limits, yet, people think it’s fine to take shots at BYU? What happened to all the talk about “diversity and inclusion”, “acceptance” and “respect” that is rampant across universities and campuses. Oh right, those are just empty words so they can continue to put on a good front, while continuing to discriminate against certain groups.

I’ve never heard, seen, or read any reports about “F— the Catholics” chants at a Notre Dame sporting event. I’ve never heard such vitriol about the Baptists at a Baylor sporting event, or anything like that about the Methodists at an SMU sporting event. The list goes on and on.

Imagine if offensive chants were targeted at Catholics, Jews, Muslims, Blacks, Hispanics, Asians or the LGBTQ community. All of this would have caused national outrage. There would be protests and people in the streets. But since it’s about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — which people commonly refer to as “Mormons” — most people, for whatever reason, think it’s ok to do.

Reality check. It’s not, and never has been.

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Universities Need To Be Proactive

Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (“Mormons”) are used to turning the other cheek and have long demonstrated patience in the face of adversity. However, such responses should not be seen as an endorsement of bigotry. A consistent display of good humor in the face of prejudice can inadvertently perpetuate and normalize unacceptable behavior.

Universities across the country need to step up and be proactive, especially when it comes to these incidents involving fans which continue to target BYU. A precedent has been set and this will continue to happen until universities take action and be proactive about it.

An “apology” afterwards is meaningless and is just a way to save face. If universities truly cared, they would be proactive so that these incidents stop happening. The fact that bigotry towards BYU continues to happen across the country is very unfortunate and schools need to do a better job at educating fans and taking action.

Preventing these incidents requires proactive measures such as:

• Preemptive guidelines: Institutions should remind fans of the code of conduct before games to set clear expectations. They should also increase their presence in student sections where it almost always starts.
• Collaboration with visiting teams: BYU staff should collaborate — if they aren’t already — with host universities ahead of road games to ensure preventative measures are in place.
• Accountability: Stronger enforcement of rules and immediate action against offenders are critical to curbing such incidents.

An apology after the damage is done is hollow. If universities want to flaunt how much “respect” and “inclusivity” they have, they better start taking action to ensure that such behavior is not tolerated in the first place. The persistence of religious bigotry at college sporting events is unacceptable, and institutions must do better.

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