By MATT VAUTOUR
The Atlantic 10 men’s soccer tournament is staying in North Carolina.
At the league’s annual meetings in May, leaders from the 14 schools discussed whether to keep the scheduled conference championships at Davidson because of North Carolina’s controversial HB2 law. They eventually decided not to move it.
HB2 stands for House Bill 2 and is often referred to as the “Bathroom Law” because of its regulations regarding the use of public restrooms by transgender individuals.
The law also makes it legal to discriminate based on sexual orientation with the following language.
It “invalidates any local law that treats sexual orientation as a protected class or has a purpose to prevent discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender individuals.”
Since the A-10’s decision in May, the NBA has moved its All-Star game and the ACC its football championship out of Charlotte, which is 22 miles south of Davidson, and the NCAA has moved seven postseason events out of the state, including NCAA men’s basketball tournament games in Greensboro.
A-10 Commissioner Bernadette McGlade said a conference call of the league’s executive committee was scheduled for Thursday. The group will have a chance to reaffirm that decision.
“Given all the additional conversation we are going to convene one more conference call with our executive committee to reaffirm our position,” she said. “I think it’s important for our membership to have one more conversation. Every one of our institutions and the conference have a tremendous commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion. We certainly would never want to negatively impact that.”
There are no other Atlantic 10 championships scheduled in North Carolina in either 2016-17 or 2017-18.
McGlade said the Atlantic 10 has been and remains committed to inclusion. She outlined the reasons they decided in May not to move the event.
Unlike the events mentioned above, the A-10 men’s soccer tournament is an on-campus event that rotates between the league’s 13 soccer-playing schools.
“We felt like we really had to differentiate between our conference championships that are on campus verse ones that are at a neutral site, which people compete and bid for,” she said. “I would characterize it as a very serious discussion. We had a good look at the pros and cons and what the precedent and the impact of moving one of our championships that normally rotates.”
Davidson President Carol Quillen has been an active and vocal opponent of the law. Taking the tournament from Davidson would be punishing a private school, which McGlade said has worked to promote an inclusive and welcoming environment.
“President Quillen has been vocal in her position regarding the bill,” McGlade said. “Davidson is a private institution which is hosting the event on their campus and their facilities. They can very much commit to protecting all of our student athletes and offering a safe and inclusive environment.”
McGlade said she thought the league’s leadership might approach things differently if a North Carolina site was interested in hosting one of the conference’s neutral-site events.
“That would now become part of the discussion whenever we’re awarding sites for our championships,” she said.
McGlade hoped this wouldn’t continue to be an issue.
“Circumstances might change,” she said. “Hopefully we’re fortunate and the bill gets repealed.”
Matt Vautour can be reached at mvautour@gazettenet.com. Get UMass coverage delivered in your Facebook news feed at www.facebook.com/GazetteUMassCoverage