VERMONT

UVM cancels basketball game at UNC over HB2 law

Alex Abrami and Austin Danforth, Burlington Free Press
UVM players return to the court following a timeout.

The University of Vermont women's basketball team has canceled an upcoming game against North Carolina due to concerns about the state's controversial HB2 law, the UVM athletic department announced Wednesday.

The Catamounts were scheduled to face the Tar Heels, a traditional ACC power, on their Chapel Hill campus on Dec. 28.

UVM athletic director Jeff Schulman explained the school's decision in a statement released Friday.

Schulman's statement reads, in part: "The decision to cancel to our Dec. 28 women's basketball game at North Carolina was made as a result of concerns over the HB2 law, which prevents transgender people from using government-run bathrooms based on their gender identity.

"We strive very hard to create an inclusive climate for our students and staff in which they all can feel safe, respected, and valued. It would be hard to fulfill these obligations while competing in a state with this law, which is contrary to our values as an athletic department and university."

Vermont reached its decision after consulting with coaches, the women's basketball team and other university officials, according to Schulman, who spoke with the Free Press on Wednesday night.

“After I took over as athletic director, it was something we began to look at and study, the issue and the law,” Schulman said. “It discriminates against the transgender community.”

UVM and UNC officially agreed to the non-conference game on March 29, less than a week after the law went into effect, and just four days after head coach Lori McBride, a Tar Heel alum, was fired after six seasons. Typically, coaches, when searching for non-conference games, enter into verbal agreements before deals are signed.

UVM then signed the deal a month later.

The contract, which Schulman emailed to the Free Press on Wednesday night, stipulated that UVM would receive $17,500 from UNC to make the trip and play in Chapel Hill. UNC would have also covered the costs for 12 hotel rooms and three meals for UVM, the contract stated.

Schulman said he discussed this week with UNC the possibility of a neutral site game or to play in Burlington. UNC nixed those ideas.

“Those weren’t options they were comfortable with,” Schulman said. “This was not meant to harm UNC or the basketball program or the student-athletes. This was about the law we think is discriminatory toward the transgender community.”

No other UVM teams had games scheduled in North Carolina during the 2016-17 school year, according to the schedules published on the athletic department's website.

The women's basketball team tips off its regular season — the first under new head coach Chris Day — against Bryant on Nov. 11 at Patrick Gymnasium.

UVM joins fellow America East team Albany, which cancelled a men's basketball game at Duke that was scheduled for November. In the professional ranks, the NBA announced last month its decision to move its All-Star Game out of Charlotte. Last week, New Orleans was tabbed as the 2017 host.

This story was originally published Aug. 24, 2016.