Earlier this year, members of the University of Missouri football team threatened to strike in response to the handling of racial discrimination allegations. The threatened strike played a role in forcing out Missouri’s president.
Now a Republican state representative has proposed a bill to punish student athletes who threaten to strike. ESPN reports that the bill will take away scholarships from striking athletes.
The bill proposed by Republican Rep. Rick Brattin last week in the Missouri House of Representatives would strip scholarships from any athlete who “calls, incites, supports or participates in any strike.” Colleges and universities would be required to fine coaching staff members who encourage or enable such student protests.
University of Missouri athletic department spokesman Ryan Bradley didn’t respond Monday to requests for comment from The Associated Press.
Missouri funds athletic scholarships not out of state dollars, but out of revenue the various programs generate. The athletics programs generated $83.7 million in revenue in 2014.
Can the state of Missouri and the university even take away a scholarship over a protest? Certainly the students will try and block it on First Amendment grounds, but do they have a case? Legally, it’s unclear because there isn’t much case law that would apply here. The striking students were supported by coaches and administration.
But removing scholarships from student athletes over protests could a violation of rules approved by Missouri’s conference, the SEC. Earlier this year, the SEC approved rules that make it harder for schools to strip student athletes of scholarships for anything other than voluntarily leaving the sport and violating team policy. If a school tried to strip protesting students of scholarships, they would have a very difficult time prevailing in court.
While the anger at how the Missouri administration handled the racial incidents and protests earlier this year is justifiable, this proposed bill is probably unconstitutional. It will open up a whole new can of worms in the courts and it probably won’t survive a legal challenge.
AAN Staff
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