Key Takeaways

• Howard University student-athletes must either stand during the national anthem or remain in the locker room under the updated athletics protocol.
• Athletics leadership says advocacy remains encouraged, while some players question whether the change limits how they can protest.
• The adjustment follows a women’s basketball team kneeling during a game against the United States Military Academy.

At one of the nation’s most well-known HBCUs, a new athletics protocol is raising questions about protest, tradition, and free expression on campus.

According to reporting from Howard University’s student newspaper, The Hilltop, the institution’s student-athletes have been told they must either stand during the national anthem or stay in the locker room before games. The policy shift comes months after the women’s basketball team knelt during the anthem at a matchup against the United States Military Academy.

For years, kneeling had been part of the program’s pregame routine. But after the Army game last December, conversations between athletics leadership, coaches, and student-athletes led to a change in how teams approach the moment.

Kery Davis, vice president of athletics, addressed the situation in a written statement obtained by The Hilltop. “There have been thoughtful internal conversations between athletics leadership, coaches, and student-athletes regarding pregame protocols,” he said. “The current approach is about supporting our students’ freedom of expression while upholding mutual respect for all communities.”

Howard women’s basketball associate head coach Brian Davis said the team ultimately chose to avoid potential controversy by stepping away from the pregame ceremony altogether. “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, home and away, and we will continue to do that throughout the rest of the season,” he said.

The team’s kneeling protest dates back to the pandemic era and the nationwide demonstrations that followed several high-profile police killings of Black people in the U.S. “Our program has been kneeling since COVID, especially when all the social justice things were happening,” the coach 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.”

Brian said the decision to kneel during the Army game was carefully considered, and the players did not intend for their protest to be viewed as disrespectful. “I think that their personnel kind of took it the wrong way and tried to take it somewhere where it wasn’t,” he added. “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.”

Kneeling during the national anthem has a longer history at Howard than many realize. In 2016, members of the university’s cheerleading team joined the protest movement sparked by former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who began kneeling to highlight police brutality and racial injustice.

Howard’s campus itself has long been associated with student activism, with generations of students organizing protests tied to civil rights, national politics, and campus issues.

Howard University athletes push back over protest restrictions

For some players, the biggest concern isn’t the anthem itself but the idea that protest options could disappear. Junior soccer goalkeeper Ireal Wyze-Daly told The Hilltop that the team held discussions about whether to support women’s basketball or comply with the new expectations. “We were asked to hear our thoughts on it and just have a conversation about our opinions on how we would go ahead with supporting or not supporting women’s basketball if there were consequences or there weren’t consequences,” he said.

Wyze-Daly also shared his personal perspective. “Personally, I don’t stand for the national anthem, I don’t really believe the messages within the national anthem,” he continued. “Also, not being American, it doesn’t really align with my beliefs or morals, considering the Black history in America and the oppression that has occurred.”

Still, he acknowledged the complicated reality many teams face. “They communicated to us that if one person kneeled or did not stand, or protested in some way, that the entire athletics [department] could suffer from it and that’s over 500 student-athletes,” Wyze-Daly added.

The soccer team ultimately voted to stand during the anthem moving forward, despite concerns about losing the ability to protest. “If they can take away our right to protest, what else can they take away? I would never believe that coming to Howard, the biggest HBCU in the world, The Mecca, would basically be forced to bow down to the white oppressive system,” he said.

Athletics leadership says advocacy remains encouraged at Howard University

Howard athletics leadership says the change is not meant to silence student-athletes but to balance expression with broader institutional responsibilities. “Howard University continues to encourage civic engagement, dialogue, and advocacy in ways that align with our university’s mission of truth and service,” Kery said. “Our foremost responsibility is to ensure that our student-athletes feel supported, heard, and empowered.”

For Brian, the goal remains the same even if the method has shifted. “We are going to continue to fight [against] injustice, we want to make sure that we stand on what we believe in,” he said. “That’s one of the reasons why you come to Howard.”

At a university often called “The Mecca,” the debate underscores how deeply questions of protest, identity, and expression remain tied to Howard’s legacy.