Duke is in an uncommon spot here in mid-July of needing to fill an opponent on its schedule after Albany canceled its Nov. 12 game vs. the Blue Devils in Durham, North Carolina due to the state's HB2 law, otherwise known as the "Bathroom Bill."
Albany, part of the State University of New York (SUNY) system, is guided by a new mandate in New York that prevents businesses and public corporations or institutions from "non-essential" travel to North Carolina as means of protesting the controversial law, which is seen by some as discriminatory toward transgender people. The law has been in effect since the early spring. It has prompted major musical acts to cancel concerts, forced big conventions out of North Carolina, and if it remains in place, NBA commissioner Adam Silver has indicated the 2017 All-Star Game could be taken out of Charlotte.
Duke's home game against Albany was to be an auxiliary game in the annual Hall of Fame Tip-Off. The organizers behind the Tip-Off have to provide a new opponent in order for Duke to fulfill its contractual requirement to the event.
The Herald-Sun broke the news.
"The State University of New York supports Governor [Andrew] Cuomo's executive order banning all non-essential travel to the state of North Carolina, and we instructed our campuses to immediately review any existing travel plans by faculty and staff," SUNY spokesman Holly Liapis told the Herald-Sun. "SUNY and its campuses continue to support the Governor on taking this stand."
The ban only applies to public schools, meaning private institutions (Syracuse, for example) are not subject to the mandate. Marist, another private school in New York (Poughkeepsie) or Brown are rumored replacements for Albany. But Duke is in a tough spot because most major programs have filled out their slates.
