UNCC kept Jerry Richardson’s name on stadium. Student leaders want it to reconsider.
Student government leaders at UNC Charlotte want trustees and administrators to reconsider their decision last year to keep the name of former Carolina Panthers owner Jerry Richardson on the school’s football stadium.
The Student Senate approved a resolution last week asking trustees to rethink the decision. It’s unclear whether school officials will consider the request.
UNCC announced last August that trustees would honor a 10-year naming rights agreement with Richardson that’s worth $10 million to the school through 2022. The decision followed the NFL’s league-record $2.75 million fine of Richardson after former Panthers employees claimed racial and sexual misconduct by the team’s founder.
Following that decision, the Student Senate passed a resolution last September asking trustees to reconsider the agreement. The Senate also agreed to seek student input on the issue but failed to agree on how to do that.
On Feb. 7, the Senate passed another resolution encouraging trustees and school administrators to reconsider the August affirmation of the naming agreement. It also asks trustees to hold a formal vote on the issue; its August decision was by telephone conference.
“Jerry Richardson’s previous actions with his staff poorly reflects the ideology of inclusiveness that has made this institution so great and home to so many people of different walks of life,” Senate Speaker Matthew Basel wrote in a message to students this week. “As a guiding principle in the Noble Niner code, accountability should be applied to not only the Niner community, but also those that have their names attached to our institution.”
The student legislator who sponsored the resolution, Jacob Baum, said he believes Richardson “does not display or represent what it means to be a Niner.”
Baum, in written comments, also faulted school officials for not openly addressing such issues. He noted that UNCC trustees haven’t posted a meeting agenda or minutes since October. Trustees have a scheduled meeting on Tuesday, but no agenda has been posted.
It’s unclear whether trustees will consider the resolution on Tuesday. If they do, it will be in closed session, said UNCC spokeswoman Buffie Stephens.
The school administration has no comment on the resolution, Stephens said. “It is a board of trustees decision,” she said.
Hedge fund billionaire David Tepper bought the Panthers for $2.275 billion last July, three months after the allegations against Richardson were first reported by Sports Illustrated. Tepper has said he is “contractually obligated” to keep a 13-foot stadium of Richardson outside Bank of America Stadium.