Howard University has adopted a new game-day protocol requiring student-athletes to either stand for the National Anthem or remain in the locker room. The comes after the school’s women’s basketball team knelt during pregame ceremonies against the United States Military Academy on Dec. 29.
Women’s basketball associate head coach Brian Davis confirmed the change, saying the updated approach was communicated as a department-wide expectation following “thoughtful internal conversations” among athletics leadership, coaches and student-athletes.
Howard University AD gives context
In a written statement included in the original report from The Hilltop, Vice President of Athletics Kery Davis said the department’s goal is to balance student expression with respect for others.
“There have been thoughtful internal conversations between athletics leadership, coaches and student-athletes regarding pregame protocols,” Kery Davis said. “The current approach is about supporting our students’ freedom of expression while upholding mutual respect for all communities.”
Howard women’s basketball has knelt during the anthem at every game since 2020 as part of a long-running protest against social injustice. Brian Davis said the team understood the sensitivity of playing Army but decided it still wanted to kneel — and stressed the intent was not disrespect.
“Our program has been kneeling since COVID, especially when all the social justice things were happening,” Brian Davis 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.”
He added that the program includes families with military service and said the team apologized if its actions were perceived otherwise.
“I think that their personnel kind of took it the wrong way and tried to take it somewhere where it wasn’t,” Davis said. “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.”
Under the new protocol, Howard’s women’s basketball players will remain in the locker room during the anthem for the rest of the season, home and away, according to Brian Davis.
“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,” he said.
Decade-plus issue
The debate is not new on campus. In 2016, Howard University cheerleaders drew national attention when they knelt in solidarity with the Colin Kaepernick-led movement protesting police brutality and racial injustice.
The change has also sparked conversation among other teams. Junior goalkeeper Ireal Wyze-Daly said the men’s soccer program met to discuss whether it would stand in solidarity with women’s basketball or comply with the department’s expectation.
“Personally, I don’t stand for the national anthem,” Wyze-Daly said. “I don’t really believe the messages within the national anthem.”
Wyze-Daly said athletes were told that individual acts of protest could have consequences for the broader department.
“They communicated to us that if one person kneeled… that the entire athletics [department] could suffer from it,” he said, adding he wasn’t willing to risk funding and support for more than 500 student-athletes.
Kery Davis, however, reiterated that the department’s priority remains student support.
“Our foremost responsibility is to ensure that our student-athletes feel supported, heard and empowered,” he said.
Brian Davis said the program is exploring other ways to advocate within institutional guidelines, even as players are restricted from publicly commenting on the matter.