Stanford women’s volleyball drew criticism this weekend after a locker-room whiteboard sketch of the Stanford Tree flipping off and pointing a gun at University of Nebraska mascot Herbie Husker was posted to the @NCAAVolleyball Twitter account. The tweet was posted and deleted on Saturday, following Stanford’s NCAA Division I national title victory in a five-set match (28-26, 22-25, 25-16, 15-25, 15-12) against Nebraska.
In a statement, Stanford Athletics Director Bernard Muir noted that the University has “reached out to [its] colleagues at Nebraska to express [its] sincerest apologies to the university and its women’s volleyball program.” He did not address the specific contents of the whiteboard drawing, nor who drew it.
“The image in the background of the picture is unacceptable and does not reflect the values of Stanford University,” Muir wrote.
In addition to its depiction of a flaming Herbie Husker under the word “Hell” and under attack by an armed, jagged-toothed Stanford Tree, the whiteboard image includes the hashtag “#fuckshitbitch,” a phrase popularized by rapper Sheck Wes’s 2018 song “Mo Bamba.”
Saturday’s championship victory was the Cardinal’s eighth national title win and its second in three years.
“We regret [the drawing] detracting from what was otherwise a great night for the sport of women’s volleyball,” Muir wrote.
Contact Holden Foreman at hs4man21 ‘at’ stanford.edu.