Ole Miss released a statement on Friday evening after approximately 20 football players attended a play where crowd members shouted homophobic slurs at the crew and cast of student actors. One unnamed Ole Miss player apologized to the cast for what happened on Tuesday night, though no one has directly accused any players of any wrongdoing.
No evidence found that Ole Miss players participated in theater disruption
Ole Miss’ Bias Incident Response Team has announced what it wants to happen following an ugly incident on Tuesday night.
Spruce Derden-USA TODAY Sports
Ole Mis has also announced that there’s no evidence any players engaged in homophobic behavior.
The Bias Incident Response Team (BIRT) met on Thursday night and released this statement. Instead of calling for punitive action to be taken, the crew and cast hopes to make this an educational opportunity.
Given the conflicting reports and the wishes of the actors and crew, BIRT wants to address and educate every student in attendance at Tuesday evening’s performance; therefore all students in attendance of The Laramie Project on October 1 are required to attend an educational dialogue session led by University faculty and Allies. Cast members are invited to participate as well. The dialogue will seek to repair the harm that was done to the effected community.
The BIRT will support the continued efforts of The Department of Athletics to foster an environment of diversity and inclusion such as their partnership with the William Winter Institute in hosting racial reconciliation week, October 7-11 and their continued support of the LGBTQ Community.
The university also announced counseling will be made available to any students who may need it after the incident.
The players were reportedly attending the play to fulfill a freshman-level theater class assignment. Despite apologizing to the students involved with the play, theater department chair Rene Pulliam said she wasn’t “sure the players truly understood what they were apologizing for.” A full rundown of Tuesday night’s happenings can be found here.
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