Slurs and harassment at BYU game alienate Mormon CU students
- Lincoln Roch
- 3 days ago
- 4 min read
When a beer can hit the back of Lizbeth Horton’s head, she decided it was time to go.
The University of Colorado freshman was at Folsom Field for the first time as a student last Saturday to watch the matchup against Brigham Young University. With plenty of BYU alumni in her family, a week of trash talk made it a battle she needed the Buffs to win.
A member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, she was left feeling that she might not be welcome in the student section or on campus.
“That was the first time I was in a place where I was Mormon, and I was genuinely a little bit concerned that somebody was going to try to fight me, like hurt me,” she said.
Horton had dreamed of going to school in Boulder since sixth grade. That night, she applied to transfer.
CU was fined $50,000 by the Big 12 on Tuesday for chants of “Fuck the Mormons” that echoed from its stands throughout the game. Attacks on the faith didn’t stop there. Stereotypes were turned into memes on social media, and threats of violence inside the stadium centered on the word “Mormon.”
While the hostility was directed towards BYU, some CU students were left in the crosshairs, facing harassment from their fellow fans on the sole basis of religion.
More than just a chant
Profanity isn’t a stranger to Folsom Field. Ending the CU Fight Song with “Fuck 'em up, Fuck 'em up, go CU,” is a staple of any home game. So are the derogatory chants towards Colorado State and Nebraska when they come to town.
The Cougars' 2024 victory against CU at the Alamo Bowl created the feeling of a revenge game, and Horton was all for it. She took no issue with the jeers hurled directly at the school.
“That's just part of the game. You’ve got to hate the other school,” Horton said. “But like, why religion?”
It wasn’t just the chants that soured the experience for Horton and other students of her faith. Leading up to the game, popular social media accounts like Barstool Buffs focused their posts largely around sexual stereotypes associated with the church.
That Saturday night, the sexualization rolled on when a stranger asked to see Horton's underwear. The girl was referring to temple garments, which Horton describes as religious underwear that endowed members of the church wear.
“I'm telling you, this is something I've never experienced in my entire life,” Horton said.
She wasn’t alone. Raised in Utah, BYU was the closest college to freshman Finn Hall and his backup school if Boulder hadn’t accepted him. Conflicted on who to root for at his first CU game, he decided to wear a BYU sweatshirt, but would’ve been happy with either outcome.
As he walked back to his seat after a concession trip, a woman yelled invasive comments at him about the sacred underclothing. As he left the game, another heckler appeared.
“He was like, ‘Sex before marriage is kind of cool, man, you should try sometime,’” Hall said. “I said, ‘No, thanks.’ And he was like, ‘Okay, so you're gay.’”
Who pays for the hate?
Sophomore Lucy Reese normally loves cheering for the Buffs from the student section. But she was irked when she first heard the chant attacking her faith half an hour before kickoff. By the third quarter, she’d gotten fed up and gone home.
“I didn't really feel like I belonged with everyone. No one was yelling ‘Sko Buffs’ anymore. It was more of just F the Mormons,” Reese said. “It’s not exciting if you can't join in on the chants and cheers of the game.”
Saturday was not the first instance of religious taunts being directed at BYU, where 98% of the student population identify as Latter-day Saints. Similar expletives have been chanted at the school's players and fans during events at the Universities of Arizona, Southern California and Oregon in recent years.
“This has started to become an unfortunate trend when it comes to playing BYU,” said CU journalism professor Ever Figueroa, who researches media sociology and sports communication.
Colorado is the first team so far to be fined for the behavior. While $50,000 may sound small, it comes at a time when CU athletics is looking for ways to fund $20.5 million in student-athlete compensation and higher coaches' salaries.
Last year, the department saw $27.1 million in direct institutional support, which can come from tuition and state funds, largely to cover the previous year's financial deficit. Figueroa says, if the department needs new funds to cover the fine, it could be reflected in ticket prices or the yearly student sports pass.
“If you are a CU student, and you're a fan of these teams, you have to be kind of proactive in improving the culture, right? Because at the end of the day, the consumer pays for these kinds of things,” Figueroa said.
The lasting effect
The following day, CU Chancellor Justin Schwartz and Athletic Director Rick George released a joint apology and condemned the behavior at the game. In his Tuesday media conference, football coach Deion Sanders doubled down.
“That’s not indicative of who we are,” Sanders said. “Our student body, our kids, are phenomenal. So don’t indict us, just based on a group of young kids that probably were intoxicated and high simultaneously. BYU, we love you, we appreciate and we support you.”
After the fine was issued, George announced that the school is reviewing its policies towards fan behavior. Those who violate them will face a series of consequences, up to a ban from future home games. But for Horton, Reese and Hall, apologies from the administration only go so far after experiencing their fellow students’ intolerance.
Hall is also considering a transfer for the spring semester. As he waited for the Buff Bus back to his dorm in Williams Village that night, he overheard a group talking about how they’d seen CU students wearing BYU merch.
One of them responded, “If I saw that, that's a free opportunity to throw hands with that person,” Hall said.
He left the stop and called a taxi.
“Once I was in the taxi, I was like, ‘Okay, I'm safe now,’” Hall said.