Basketball

Racism is behind some of the criticism directed at the University of Arkansas’ investigation of a sexual incident involving four basketball players and a woman, a school official said Sunday.

Jim Blair, the chairman of the board of trustees, said some of the public outcry for action against the players reflects a lynch-mob mentality.

Blair said some members of the public, eager for a disposition in the investigation, don’t want to give the players due process.

“I don’t believe in lynch-mob mentality. I mean there have been a lot of black men strung up to trees for things they haven’t done, and the people who strung them up found out later they were wrong. But you can’t rectify the situation once you’ve done it,” Blair said.

Asked if he was drawing an analogy between the four black players involved in the incident with a white woman and blacks lynched in the South, Blair said racism has played a part in the controversy.

“If this had been four white athletes and a black girl, do I think some of the people who are making the outcry would make it? I don’t think so. I think there is a very unfortunate element of racism here,” Blair said.