Bob Huggins said what he said on the radio Monday. There is audio evidence of him starting down the road to heinously slurring the LGBTQ+ community, pausing, and then doubling down and pushing forward anyway. He admitted he said it, releasing a statement hours later that offered neither excuse nor attempt to contextualize that which cannot be contextualized.

To which West Virginia responded with its own statement, saying it would review the situation. There is nothing to review here, no investigation necessary to uncover what may or may not have happened. Huggins said it. He said he said it. Sometimes these things are complicated; this is not complicated.

It essentially comes down to what the university is willing to tolerate, and how hard a line it wants to take against hate speech. That’s it. The university’s very mission reads that West Virginia University is committed to creating a “diverse and inclusive culture.’’ It has an entire dropdown menu on its website about inclusive initiatives.

No doubt there are legal minions running around with their hair on fire, parsing through every last word of Huggins’ contract, searching for the critical “for cause’’ out clause. But even as they do that, the university could have — and should have — suspended Huggins indefinitely. That as of this writing Tuesday it hasn’t already speaks volumes about whose comfort is valued and whose is not. Huggins ostracized and denigrated an entire population, but yet the university is choosing to take care with him instead of worrying about the feelings of the already segmented portion of society.