In Northeast Tennessee, a controversy over a decision by college basketball players to take a knee during the National Anthem continues to reverberate across the ETSU campus and community, with the looming possibility state lawmakers will act to punish any future protests by student-athletes at public campuses across the state.
On Feb. 15, players and coaches on the East Tennessee State University Buccaneers’ team linked arms and knelt in protest against racial inequalities and injustices during Black History Month at an away game against the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Mocs.
Within a week of the game, which the Buccaneers narrowly lost, 27 Tennessee Republican state senators signed onto a letter urging each of the state’s public university presidents and chancellors to “prohibit such actions going forward.”
Lawmakers grilled ETSU President Brian Noland in routine budget hearings at the Tennessee Legislature, which has the power to decide the school’s funding going forward. And many of the school’s fans and boosters threatened to withhold support, including the prominent owner of Johnson City Honda, who repossessed the vehicles he had, for years, lent to coaches and staff for their use.
Last week, Buccaneers head coach Jason Shay abruptly resigned. Shay, who is white, was just one year into a three-year contract and walked away with a $450,000 severance package.