Eliminating anti-Mormon chant from campuses personal for Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark's comments during his annual press conference ahead of the Big 12 men's basketball tournament struck a personal tone Tuesday morning at the T-Mobile Center.

Asked by a reporter from BYU's campus newspaper about the league's handling of a derogatory chant aimed at members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints during some BYU games — particularly in football and men's basketball — the commissioner reiterated the conference's usual response that the league has "zero tolerance" for hate speech of any kind, including against a religious faith.

But he also shared a personal example of why the chant — and eliminating it from the campuses in his league — matter so much to him, not only as a conference commissioner but as a father and man of faith.

"We have zero tolerance for that," Yormark said. "I speak to you both as the commissioner of the Big 12, but also as someone that has high integrity. I've had those conversations, in fact, with my kids; I think it's a lot of education that needs to happen with some of the student sections, because that's where it's coming from.

"I told my kids, you're not coming home if those words come out of your mouth," he said. "I take it very seriously."

Yormark said he speaks regularly with BYU president Shane Reese about the derogatory chants, which have led to recent fines of $50,000 at Colorado and Oklahoma State for violations of the league's sportsmanship policies.

He does so, Yormark added, as a conference official who is responsible for reporting to university presidents and athletic directors across the 16-team conference.

But his conversations with Reese also reflect his own faith upbringing.

"I'm Jewish, I grew up in a very diverse background, and I felt hate as a young man," an emotional Yormark said. "And I didn't like it.

"I'm here based on those experiences and in my position to try to bring about change, and change behavior," he added. "That's what I'm trying to do, along with my colleagues, the presidents and the ADs. We have spent quite a bit of time, and we're going to spend more in our spring meetings on how we can be better."

After the most recent chant, BYU men's basketball coach Kevin Young condemned the obscenities during a 99-92 loss at Oklahoma State that was occasionally loud enough to be heard on the FS1 broadcast.

"There's just too much hate in the world to be saying stuff like that," he said. "We've got enough problems in our world without going at people's religion and beliefs, whether it's in vogue or not."

The chant last month was at least the fourth time in the last calendar year that a BYU athletic team had been subjected to denigration at an opponent's venue.

An op-ed in the Cincinnati Enquirer took aim at Bearcats fans and students who participated in the chant, citing interviews with university employees who are also members of the church that also sponsors BYU and were at the Cougars' 26-14 win last November.

The Big 12 fined Colorado $50,000 after use of what it called an "inappropriate" chant by several fans during BYU's 24-21 win over the Buffaloes last September, and campus leadership condemned the "expletives and religious slurs" used by some students.

Other examples of the chant have followed the Cougars, including at in-state rival Utah, USC, Oregon and Stanford in football, and Providence and Arizona in men's basketball. In most cases, the universities were quick to condemn the actions of the individuals that expressed the rhetoric.

But more can — and needs to — be done, Yormark emphasized.

"I'm embarrassed by it, and not happy about it," he said. "But we need to do something about it. We have to change behavior, and I think we're going to roll up our sleeves and dig in our spring meetings and address it as a group, the presidents and the ADs. I know, and I'm very confident that we will get to a better place."

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