UCLA dismisses track, cross-country racer for alleged insults

UCLA fired track and cross country runner Chris Weiland on Monday night after an alleged video and text message exchange surfaced on Instagram about him using racist and sexist language.
Head Coach Avery Anderson announced the dismissal of Weiland in a statement from the team’s Twitter account Monday night, while acknowledging that he had previously suspended Weiland.

“Chris Weiland was fired as a member of the cross country and track teams,” the statement read from Anderson. “When I first learned of this a few months ago, I was disgusted and immediately suspended him indefinitely from the team.

“Even in my disgust as a coach my intentions are still to lead and educate and achieve the change I want to see in this world. I can talk about changing the world, or I can do the work to do it. . And that’s what I’ve been doing over the past few months with this individual. ”

After returning to Weiland in January, Anderson said in his statement that “it was not the right decision” after members of the team raised concerns that “Weiland’s continued involvement with the team is incompatible with the culture of mutual support and respect that we encourage ”.

Prior to Weiland’s dismissal, the UCLA Black Student Athlete Association issued a statement on Sunday saying it was “deeply disturbing to learn that UCLA was aware of an incident of blatant racism, d homophobia and sexism and had done very minimal actions about it. ”

The four-minute video of Weiland’s alleged remarks was posted on social media, and a man can be heard using anti-gay and racist slurs. In addition to the video, text messages allegedly from Weiland containing racist and sexist comments were also posted on social media.