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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Student Athlete Says Race Kept Her Off Team

RICHMOND, Va. (CN) - A University of Mary Washington student claims in a federal lawsuit that she was denied a spot on the school's basketball team because she is black.

In a complaint filed in the Richmond Federal Court, UMW Eagles hopeful Jasmine Orsted says that during tryouts in the fall of 2014, she overheard players say they "did not like having black people at their school or teams."

She also also claims a member of the team described how she visited a large black church and spoke of how she'd been "terrified because there were so many black people."

Orsted says Deena Applebury, the team's coach, ignored the comments, and went on to deny her a spot on the NCAA Division III team at the behest of her racist players, the complaint alleges.

UMW, a public liberal arts school located in Fredericksburg, Va., reported a fall 2014 black undergrad population of 6 percent, according to the school's most recent data.

Orsted seeks $150,000 in compensatory and punitive damages, plus attorneys' fees.

She is represented by Lisa Brown of Woodbridge, Va.

Representatives of the university declined to comment on the pending lawsuit.

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