Howard University is implementing new rules regarding athletes’ ability to kneel during the National Anthem. Student-athletes are now required to either stand or remain in the locker room. The news was announced after Howard’s women’s basketball team knelt during pregame ceremonies against the United States Military Academy on Dec. 29. The team has knelt in every game since 2020 to protest social injustice.

The Howard University Department of Athletics implemented new pregame protocols

“There have been thoughtful internal conversations between athletics leadership, coaches and student-athletes regarding pregame protocols. The current approach is about supporting our students’ freedom of expression while upholding mutual respect for all communities,” Vice President of Athletics Kery Davis said in a statement, according to Howard’s student news publication The Hilltop. 

“Howard University continues to encourage civic engagement, dialogue and advocacy in ways that align with our university’s mission of truth and service,” Davis added. “Our foremost responsibility is to ensure that our student-athletes feel supported, heard and empowered.”  

Brian Davis, an associate head coach for Howard’s women’s basketball team, said they understood the impact of playing the United States Military Academy while adding that the decision to kneel was not to be disrespectful. Davis also said that members of the program have family members who served in the military.

“Our program has been kneeling since COVID, especially when all the social justice things were happening,” he said. “All the young men and women Black of color [who] were passing away from the hands of police brutality, we decided to take a stand against social injustice.”

“I think that their personnel kind of took it the wrong way and tried to take it somewhere where it wasn’t,” he added. “We didn’t want to disrespect anybody. That wasn’t our intent. But if we did, we definitely apologized to them, and let them know where we stood with it.”

Following the new rules, the women’s basketball team remained in the locker room during the national anthem for the rest of the season

“We don’t want to bring any bad light to Howard University, so we just decided to stay in the locker room now for every game, home and away and we will continue to do that throughout the rest of the season,” Brian Davis said.

“We are going to continue to fight for injustice, we want to make sure that we stand on what we believe in,” he added. “That’s one of the reasons why you come to Howard.”

Since 2016, Howard University athletes have kneeled during the national anthem

In 2016, Howard cheerleaders were among the first student-athletes to kneel during the national anthem in support of Colin Kaepernick and his public stance against police brutality and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, HBCU Gameday reported.

After Howard adopted new protocols regarding kneeling, the soccer team expressed its support of the women’s basketball team. Junior goalkeeper Ireal Wyze-Daly questioned the decision while saying the soccer team will keep standing during the national anthem.

“If they can take away our right to protest, what else can they take away? I would never believe that coming to Howard, the biggest HBCU in the world, The Mecca, would basically be forced to bow down to the white oppressive system,” he told The Hilltop.

Wyze-Daly also shared that players were told that individual acts of kneeling could have consequences for the entire department.

“They communicated to us that if one person kneeled or did not stand, or protested in some way, that the entire athletics [department] could suffer from it, and that’s over 500 student-athletes,” they said.