Victoria Smith is the daughter of Sgt. Michael Smith, one of the four Dallas police officers who was killed in the tragic attack a few months ago. In a nod of support for her and her father, Southern Methodist University had scheduled Victoria to serve an honorary “first serve” at the SMU volleyball game against South Florida this Saturday. It was a nice gesture for a girl who has been through a lot recently.
But unfortunately, SMU pulled back on their offer on Thursday night. They cited the “shocking election results” as the reason for pulling out.
Here’s the email that Sgt. Smith’s widow received via email:
Subject: Smith Family
Hello again Heidi,
I regret to inform you that we will not be able to go through with the honorary first serve. In the switch between staff members and the handling of volleyball promotions, some information was not forwarded on correctly from (name omitted) to myself and I deeply apologize for that.
The volleyball program was not correctly informed that this would be taking place at the game, and feels that in light of recent events and diversity within the SMU community, that the demonstration could be deemed insensitive.
However, the coaching staff would like to still do something for Victoria and the team. They are invited to stay after the game for an autograph session with the players, if you would like.
Again, they apologize for the inconvenience and late notice, especially in regards to the sensitivity of this matter.
I do hope that you all will still join us on Saturday. If you would like to discuss this further, you can reach me at
(name and # omitted)
I know that it’s easy to point fingers at a time like this, but for the SMU Volleyball team and the Athletic Director to pull out of a warm gesture like this is honest-to-god cowardice. What happened to Sergeant Smith, to his daughter, to his wife is terrible and had absolutely nothing to do with the election. I recognize that there’s still a large amount of healing that our nation needs to do, but the Smith family needs the Dallas community, just like the Dallas community needed officers like Sergeant Smith.
Our nation needs to come together. I’m upset with the result of the election just like everyone else in my NYC bubble, but we need to move on and be better people. Protesting the daughter of a dead cop is not something I can ever, or will ever, support.
Share this story and help put the pressure on SMU to offer Victoria the opportunity to serve at the game this Saturday. Show her that America supports their own.
