Asia Todd, who played her freshman season for Liberty University's women's basketball team, announced on social media that she is entering the transfer portal because of "racial insensitivities" at the school.
Todd is a 5-foot-9 guard from Clayton, North Carolina, who started 25 games and averaged 8.6 points this past season for Liberty.
"This decision had nothing to do with basketball or the program," Todd said in her Twitter post. "This was simply bigger than basketball. The basketball program, the coaching staff and my teammates at Liberty were amazing. I developed lifelong relationships that I will cherish forever.
"However, due to the racial insensitivities shown within the leadership and culture, it simply does not align with my moral compass or personal convictions. Therefore, I had to do what I felt was best within my heart, and stand up for what is right."
Liberty president Jerry Falwell Jr. apologized earlier this week for a deleted Tweet he had sent out in May criticizing Virginia Governor Ralph Northam's policy to wear masks in public because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Falwell said in his Tweet that he would wear a mask only if it included images of Northam, whom he referred to as "Governor Blackface." Falwell included photographs from the governor's medical school yearbook that showed a person in blackface and another person in Ku Klux Klan attire. The photos, from 1984, came to light in 2019, and Northam apologized for them.
A letter from 35 black pastors, ministry leaders and Liberty alumni was made public earlier this month in which they urged Falwell to apologize, saying, "While your Tweet may have been in jest about Virginia's governor, it made light of our nation's painful history of slavery and racism."
