WTHR |BSU investigating racist notes directed at coach

BSU investigating racist notes directed at coach

Phil Scott/Eyewitness News

Indianapoils - An investigation is ongoing at Ball State after someone sent harassing and racial comments to the schools coaching staff.

Sometime over the weekend, someone slipped the messages under the office door of Ball State basketball coach Ronny Thompson.

"These notes were very racially insensitive," said Ball State Athletic Director Tom Collins. "It used a word that I won't use on camera. It used a word called 'cheaters,' it used the word 'liar' that was printed on it."

Accompanying the handwritten notes were articles from the student newspaper about a second round of recently uncovered NCAA rules infractions, and the university's own investigation into the matter. That investigation concluded that Coach Thompson and some staff lied to cover up the infractions. Those violations included the coach and his assistants being present at open gyms and weightlifting sessions during the off season, and were similar to the rules Thompson and his staff violated last year.

The university's police department is trying to determine who even had access to the offices. The possibilities: a student, someone who came from off-campus or even whether the racist writing was an inside job. Investigators are looking at whether someone on Ball State's staff could have left the messages, since the building that houses the coach's office was believed to be locked, and there were no signs of forced entry.

Psychologist and associate professor Charlene Alexander has been appointed to head a parallel investigation into whether there's a climate of intolerance within the athletics department at the university.

"I think I would be horrified," Alexander said. "I think that Ball State clearly has a commitment to diversity. A commitment to establishing and maintaining a very welcoming experience for all. That has been my experience in the ten years I've been here."

Word of the messages spread quickly across campus. The reactions to the allegations of racism are as diverse as the students themselves.

"It's not a surprise to me because I know that it exists," said junior Albert Rettew. "And it coming up is just a boiling point that, okay, look, it still exists."

"I was kind of appalled," senior Joe Thomas said. "I don't know what the reason would be, or why it would happen. It's really unfortunate. It gives Ball State a bad name, I think. And that's not the case. That's not what we're here for."

Eyewitness News spoke with several members of the basketball team, who said that Thompson didn't share any information about the notes with them, though Collins says the coach was very upset by the notes. Meanwhile, the university has changed the locks in the athletic complex.