When the University of Missouri football team embraced the Concerned Student 1950 protests, the possibility players could lose their scholarships — as proposed by a state lawmaker — was not a factor, sophomore safety Anthony Sherrils said Monday.
On Nov. 7, Sherrils tweeted a photo of more than 30 players who declared a boycott of football activities in support of Jonathan Butler, a graduate student at MU who went on a hunger strike to call for UM System President Tim Wolfe's resignation. Under university rules, the players risked losing their financial aid if they missed a practice scheduled for the next day.
Rick Brattin
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"We didn't really care," Sherrils said. "It was the right thing to do."
State Rep. Rick Brattin, R-Harrisonville, filed a bill Friday that would revoke the athletic scholarship of any athlete "who calls, incites, supports or participates in any strike or concerted refusal to play a scheduled game." Schools would be required to fine coaches who support the banned activities, as then-Coach Gary Pinkel did by canceling practice and publicly backing the players.
"I have had to sacrifice things because it is the right thing to do," Brattin said. "The thinking that you can act a certain way and get away with everything, that is not the real world. I think if the coaching staff had not given their blessing to this type of behavior, we would not even be talking right now."
Wolfe resigned Nov. 9, two days after the team's boycott brought national attention to the protests over racism on campus. Practices resumed the next day, but the move could have cost the university at least $1 million had the Tigers not played a game scheduled for Nov. 14.
The student athlete handbook says the university may revoke the scholarship of any athlete violating NCAA, Southeastern Conference, institutional or departmental regulations or failing to "maintain their academic or social responsibilities."
The university does not have any comment "at this time" on Brattin's legislation, UM System spokesman John Fougere wrote in an email.
The players would prefer the university address racism and systematic oppression so protests are unnecessary, Sherrils said. "But to say, 'Your voice doesn't matter. We're going to take your scholarships if you feel that it's just that you boycott,' that's crazy to me," he said.
Brattin sponsored a law that took effect in August making public college campuses forums where non-commercial speech could not be restricted.
The issue for the new bill, he said, is not whether players had a right to support the protests. The problem is refusing to meet the requirements of their scholarships, he said.
"They had the opportunity to stand arm-in-arm peacefully with the protests without holding the football program hostage with their activity," Brattin said. "That is where you went from their individual freedoms and rights to stepping on the rights of others."
The reaction to his bill has been heated, Brattin said. "I am getting tons of calls. There is no lukewarm anything."
State Rep. Stephen Webber, D-Columbia, said lawmakers should focus on helping the university instead of punishing students. "Coaching the football team from Jefferson City is not a higher education policy," he said.
The university already has the power to do everything Brattin's bill would mandate, said Rep. Kip Kendrick, D-Columbia. "What frustrates me the most is that there are so many people in the legislature trying to trash the University of Missouri."
The bill will spur discussion about how the university handled the protests, said Rep. Kurt Bahr, R-St. Charles and co-sponsor of Brattin's bill. The unrest was a major topic of conversation when Republicans, who hold more than two-thirds of the seats in the Missouri House, met Friday, Bahr and state Rep. Chuck Basye, R-Rocheport, said.
"My issue isn't that I am upset with students that said they didn't want to play," Bahr said. "My issue is broader to the unrest that is going on at the university and the poor response of the leadership."
The General Assembly would be wrong to punish the university by reducing its funding or imposing some other penalty, Basye said. What lawmakers want is for the administration and the Board of Curators to show they are in charge.
"I wasn't real pleased with" the resignation of Wolfe and MU Chancellor R. Bowen Loftin, "and I know an awful lot of people don't like it, either," Basye said. "For them to resign over those issues they had no control over — the alleged racism — was a terrible mistake."
Brattin's bill might not be the best way to address lawmaker concerns, Basye said, but he was not sure he will oppose it.
"Those football players were way out of line," Basye said. "They had a responsibility to the university and to the football program to play."
This story was first published online on Monday, December 14, 2015 at 5:14 p.m.
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Source: Bill would revoke scholarships of athletes who boycott games
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