After eight Ole Miss men’s basketball players knelt during the national anthem prior to playing Georgia Saturday, Vice Chancellor and Director of Athletics Ross Bjork voiced his support for the players.

Bjork condemned the two pro-Confederate groups marching on campus and through Oxford, and stressed the kneeling was strictly protesting the two groups and not the anthem.

He also commended the players for making a bold statement.

“Our job is to teach and educate, every single day,” Bjork said. “Our students, they see what’s happening on our campus.”

“Good for the players to stand up and make a statement.”

He condemned the two groups marching through the city – Confederate-901 and the Hiwaymen – as groups that are out of state and what the university doesn’t want on its campus.

Bjork also stressed that the kneeling was strictly against the marching groups. He said he told the team they have his full support when he addresses them after the game in the locker room.

“They spill hate and bigotry and racism on our campus, and our players stood up for that,” Bjork said. “It had nothing to do with the anthem, it had nothing to do with anything beyond.”