Ex-Alabama Gymnast Tia Kiaku Alleges 'Disturbing' Racist Behavior at Practice

Tia Kiaku, a former gymnast at the University of Alabama, said Tuesday on Instagram an assistant coach made a racist joke to her and other African American teammates during a practice and another teammate was permitted to use racial slurs without consequence.

Kiaku described the behavior of the assistant coach in her post:

"I would be remiss if I didn't take the opportunity to address a very disturbing and grave incident that occurred last year while I was on the Gymnastics team at the University of Alabama.

"During a practice, only the three African American girls (including myself) just happened to be on vault drills together. While practicing, one of the black gymnasts said 'look all the black girls are all on the same event' responding to the statement, the Assistant Coach walked over and said 'What is this, the back of the bus?'"

She also wrote on Twitter that the program allowed a fellow gymnast to use a racial slur:

Per Cecil Hurt of TideSports.com, Kiaku was a walk-on member of the Crimson Tide after transferring from Ball State two years ago.

In a statement, Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne said the school was "limited by law on what we can speak about regarding equal opportunity matters" but did describe what steps were taken after Kiaku filed a complaint:

"When the complaint was received, it was immediately reported to the Office of Equal Opportunity and Title IX Programs on campus as well as the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. From there, an investigation, completely separate from athletics, took place. Once the Office of Equal Opportunity and Title IX Programs gathered all of the facts, an outcome was determined, reported back and action steps were taken. We are a department that is committed to providing a just and inclusive community for all of our student-athletes, coaches and staff, operating with integrity and respect."

Kiaku wrote in her post that "after much consideration, a lot of thought, lots of crying and even some tough/hard discussions" with head coach Dana Duckworth and some teammates, she decided to leave the team and the school.