Elon University is currently investigating an incident during a football game against North Carolina Central University. Samihya Love, a freshman at North Carolina Central, claims that a white Elon football player shouted racial slurs at her from the sidelines during the game. The player has been identified as Marco Patierno.
Elon Associate Athletics Director of Strategic Communications Jason Knavel released a statement regarding the issue. He says the athletic department is aware of accusations made by Love and has launched an investigation.
“We are aware of the allegations about comments made during Elon’s recent football game. We are looking into this incident, and any substantiated allegations will be addressed appropriately by the university,” Knavel wrote in an email to Elon News Network. “Elon University is a community based on a strong commitment to inclusivity and belonging, and intolerant behavior and comments have no place here.”
Love shared this post on Instagram following the incident:
“DOES MARCO PATIERNO LOOK LIKE A RACIST?? well he is!
Today i went to my very first football game on my HBCU campus. It was NCCU vs. Elon. For this game I sat on the Elon side because there was not much space left for me to sit on the Central side, but the section I was in was filled with fellow eagles. As I was enjoying the game things got competitive and one of our players came to the elon side heated. The staff held him back and number 3 on Elon, Marco Patierno, turned to me and the girl beside me (as we were sitting on the front row in easily access) and squirted his water bottle on us. He proceeded to call the girl beside be a “B”tch” and me a “N*gga.”
I admit I argued back originally then stopped to say, I pay tuition here, I am a criminal justice major, my future matters, I will not embarrass my family or classmates. I walked away and spoke to the officers clearly in high emotions and they promised they would deal with it and I could go back without worry. I calmed down then went back to sit down. Soon after I sat down Elon got a pick and in high spirits came back shooting a finger gun in the air. Number 3 moves his finger gun from the air to my face, looks me dead in the eyes and proceeds to say “f*ck you b”tch”. I left in tears and spoke to officers again before leaving the game for good. I was overly excited for my first college game because I love sports; unfortunately that didn’t last. It’s sad that l’m unable to feel comfortable on my own campus and getting racial slurs spouted at me by white Elon is definitely not helping me to adjust. To top off this ignorant white man disrespecting me, it’s disappointing to have seen him accompanied by his black teammates. Notably #12, Brandon Tyson, and #92, Brandon Smiley.
If nothing is done I truly pray that these men wake up and start to love themselves enough to respect the women around them. Despite my poor experiences tonight, I’ll make sure to do my BIGGEST ONE and continue to educate every white, white passing, AND black man who ever talked down on me. Elon players if you’re seeing this on the last slide is me so whether you wanna admit what happened or not YK this mega cute face 😇.”
Love, who is 18 years old, said that she’s never dealt with firsthand racism. She also mentioned that she no longer feels safe on campus. Love said she hopes Patierno is held accountable for his actions.
“I know a lot of times athletes are put on this pedestal to where they can do no wrong because they make so much money for the school, or they do so much, and that overshadows the students who pay tuition, the students who have to live there,” she said. “I just want to stop that. I want to stop that. ‘There’s nothing you can do about this. It happens all the time.’”