and I have to say that I came away impressed. I know my message likely will not do him justice, but I'm going to give it a try.

As many of you may, or may not, know, Darron is a convert to the LDS faith. He grew up in Nashville, TN, and as a youth he converted to the faith. He went on to attend Ricks College and went on to recieve his Ph.D. and works at Wichita State as a professor over the P.A.'s. During his tenure at BYU he taught Sociology courses that focused around elements of race, religion, and sex. He's a great guy, well read, and well thought.

He was approached by an ESPN writer to write up a blurb about Davies in light of HC infractions. He sought comment from the school about the situation but was unsuccessful. Said ESPN writer had a file of all the players who'd been kicked out of BYU since the rape/group sex allegations in 2004. They began to look at the disparity among those who were kicked out and from there the story was born. It was the ESPN writer who got him hooked up with Deadspin and Luke Winn to write the article. Luke O'Brien did a lot of the initial primary research. (Interesting note: Despite Booker's attempts to claim his father didn't talk to anyone, Smith said O'Brien had the transcript from their conversation and was willing to move forward should he continue to say they weren't contacted. Smith also said that Booker's father is outspoken about the HC and said he's got a definite ax to grind. He had more to say, but this is not the forum.)

He said the article has "gone viral" and he couldn't believe it. His intention is not to harm BYU, but fix the inconsistencies with HC enforcement. He was quite pleased that there are some of the LDS faith who can seperate their testimonies from the fact that there may be personal biases against black athletes. He's got an overwhelming response ranging from BYU alum and LDS members.

I took an African American co-worker who used to be a former sports journalist with me. Said journalist mentioned on the way over that there's not a chance that article would've made it through a newspaper editor because there are too many other variables that could contribute to the problem besides race. He mentioned that in order for a journalist to claim racial prejudice they had to prove away all other factors or compare equal tests to the thesis. In a round about way this was mentioned to Smith who said that he's going to take the article and do a follow-up academic piece which will meet higher standards and tests. His hope is to see it published. In the follow-up he intends to get with Kehl, Brown, Mahe, and others and meet face-to-face and really make sure this is sound before moving forward.

I know there is a dichotomy on this board about whether he was right or wrong to produce the article. His focus was to change the way the HC enforcement takes place, not accuse the LDS church of racism. His hope was that this article could lead to an open discussion rather than turning a blind eye. Personally, I was happy for the opportunity to meet him.