Howard University is requiring its student-athletes to either stand for the national anthem or remain in the locker room until it has finished playing. The women’s college basketball program already decided on the latter.
They are going to stay away from the court until game time.
This new policy goes into effect after the women’s college basketball team was accused of showing disrespect toward the United States Military Academy back in December. It applies to every sport.
Howard did not stand for the national anthem at Army.
Howard University is a private, historically black college and university in Washington, D.C. It was established in 1867, shortly after the conclusion of the Civil War, and serves more than 14,000 students. Approximately 80% of the student body is Black. Roughly 70% of students are female.
That is the background on the school itself. As for the new policy, we must go back to Dec. 29.
The Bison women’s basketball team played a road game at Army in West Point. The players did not stand for the national anthem as the women who are set to serve our country upon graduation stood proudly on the other side of the court.
Howard women’s basketball has knelt during the national anthem at every game since 2020— six years ago. It has been consistent. This was not a new thing. It did not change its protocol because of the opponent.
“Our program has been kneeling since COVID, especially when all the social justice things were happening,” associate head coach Brian Davis told The Hilltop. “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.”
Davis has a conversation with his players at the start of every season. They can either decide together to stand for the anthem or kneel as a as a form of protest. He will always support their decision. They again chose to kneel during the national anthem throughout 2025-26 season.
However, the decision not to stand for the national anthem while on campus at the United States Military Academy was widely perceived as disrespect toward the country, the troops and toward their sacrifice.
The university changed its policy for every student-athlete.
Howard University has officially adopted a new game-day policy in response to the backlash. Every student-athlete is required to stand for the national anthem if he or she is on the court (or the field).
Should a student-athlete choose not to do so, he or she must remain in the locker room.
The women’s basketball team has decided to stay in the locker room for (at least) the remainder of the season to avoid any additional controversy. Brian Davis says they will not stand for the anthem, whether at home or on the road.
“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 added that members of the program have family members who served or are currently serving in the military. Neither he nor his players did intended to show disrespect toward Army.
“I think that their personnel kind of took it the wrong way and tried to take it somewhere where it wasn’t. 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.”
Vice President of Athletics Kery Davis released the following statement about the controversy and the new national anthem policy that stems from the adverse reaction to the women’s basketball team.
“There have been thoughtful internal conversations between athletics leadership, coaches and student-athletes regarding pregame protocols. The current approach is about supporting our students’ freedom of expression while upholding mutual respect for all communities.”
This new protocol goes into effect immediately. Either stand for the anthem or stay in the locker room.