Elon University, who recently played a football game at North Carolina Central, is investigating claims by a student that a Phoenix football player yelled racist slurs at her during the contest.
Samihya Love, a first-year student at NC Central, said a white Elon player yelled slurs at her from the sidelines during the game. Love, who is Black, said she was attending her first game.
Elon Associate Athletics Director of Strategic Communications Jason Knavel said the school’s athletic department is aware of the accusations and is investigating.
“We are aware of the allegations about comments made during Elon’s recent football game. We are looking into this incident and any substantiated allegations will be addressed appropriately by the university,” Knavel wrote in an email to Elon News Network. “Elon University is a community based on a strong commitment to inclusivity and belonging, and intolerant behavior and comments have no place here.”
“It was just a matter of, why do I not feel safe on my own campus?” Love said in an Instagram post. “Like at the end of the day, I just graduated high school; I’m an 18-year-old. I’ve never had to deal with firsthand racism.”
“A lot of people are saying in my comments and stuff that this had to be provoked by me, or something like that, which I just find outlandish, that it always has to be the angry Black woman narrative,” she continued. “Why can’t y’all just believe that I was there enjoying the game, and one of y’all’s players got upset to the point where he spout racial slurs at me?”
Love said she is hopeful the football player will be held accountable.
“I know a lot of times athletes are put on this pedestal to where they can do no wrong because they make so much money for the school, or they do so much, and that overshadows the students who pay tuition, the students who have to live there,” she said. “I just want to stop that. I want to stop that, ‘There’s nothing you can do about this. It happens all the time.’”