UAFS students protest basketball coach’s remarks

FORT SMITH — About 40 people Tuesday evening joined the parents of former University of Arkansas-Fort Smith basketball player Tyler Williams to condemn a coach’s criticism of a hairstyle worn by Williams they said is a representation of African-American culture.

“For someone to base a decision about someone’s life and their goals and dreams based on a hair or cultural style, that is insensitive, it’s wrong and it’s very upsetting,” said Darneisha Airhart, a December graduate of UAFS.

Williams, who is black, wears his hair in dreadlocks, and in a complaint alleging racial discrimination stated he was dismissed from the team after Jim Boone, who is white, spoke disapprovingly about his hairstyle. Boone, through an attorney, denied any racial discrimination.

An internal investigation by UAFS found no “substantial” evidence of discrimination, Chancellor Terisa Riley said in a Sept.

11 email to the campus community. Riley also said there will not be any hair policy for UAFS athletes.

Tyler Williams now attends Southern Nazarene University in Bethany, Okla.

His parents, Reggie and Tiffini Williams, said they drove three hours from their home in Edmond, Okla., to take part in the event, held outside the UAFS Stubblefield Center. Marchers chanted, “I am not my hair,” with some also shouting, “Fire Boone.”

An organizer, LaSondra Avery, told those in attendance a petition will call for disciplinary action against Boone, a 33-year coaching veteran hired by UAFS in April. People at the event called for fans not to attend men’s basketball games but also for the community to support the women’s team.

“We thank you so much, this is unbelievable. We can do so much when we join together,” Reggie Williams told the crowd.

Tyler Williams, an honor roll student and the team’s second-leading scorer last year, said Boone never ordered him to cut his hair, but remarks caused him to feel “devalued and disrespected” and stated, in a letter, “Boone’s action of policing black hair is a form of pervasive racism and bias.”

The complaint by Williams and his family included audio of a meeting with Boone.

In a statement released by the university to news outlets, Boone has said, “Dr. Riley has made clear there will be no hair policy on my team or any other at UAFS, and I fully support that decision. In hindsight, after listening to the audio recording, I’m sorry that I responded reactively during the meeting on August 16, 2019. That was out of character for me, and I regret that I allowed both parties’ emotions to escalate.”

After the event, Reggie and Tiffini Williams disputed statements about their son by an attorney for Boone, Tom Mars, who suggested Tyler Williams wanted to leave UAFS and transfer to play at a different school.

“He didn’t want to leave,” Tiffini Williams said. She said her son is doing well at his new school, where he’s on a basketball scholarship.

“All of this could have been solved if Coach Boone had just said, ‘Tyler, I’m sorry. I’m sorry the comments that I made were racial,’” Reggie Williams said. He said he was aware of Boone’s statement, but the family wants a personal apology.

Tiffini Williams said the UAFS letter informing them of the investigation result “basically said it was a misunderstanding,” and that Boone “was referring to the length of his hair and not the style.”

But she disputed that description of Boone’s comments: “Nothing ever was mentioned about the length of his hair,” she said.

Williams