Two state representatives in Missouri introduced a bill that would penalize student-athletes that participate in protests by revoking their athletic scholarships.
State Reps. Rick Brattin (R-Harrisonville) and Kurt Bahr (R-O'Fallon) authored House Bill 1743 in response to the University of Missouri's football team taking part in a protest demanding the school system president's resignation, The Kansas City Star reported.
The bill would also penalize coaches who endorse participating in protests, a nod to Gary Pinkel's involvement in the matter.
"Any college athlete who calls, incites, supports, or participates in any strike or concerted refusal to play a scheduled game shall have his or her scholarship revoked," reads the bill. "Any member of a coaching staff who encourages or enables a college athlete to engage in (such) behavior... shall be fined by his or her institution of employment."
After Jonathan Butler, a graduate student at UM, had already been on hunger strike for a week, the black players on the Tigers football team stated on Twitter they would boycott official team activities until Tim Wolfe resigned. The next day, Pinkel announced the whole team would take part in Butler's protest.
What ensued was Wolfe's resignation, more racial demonstrations on UM's campus, and threats of violence toward the school's black student population. While some have suggested the issue of Wolfe's perceived indifference to racism on campus would never have been addressed if not for the football team's actions, Brattin and Bahr argued the team was taking things too far.
"Whenever they go and refuse to play and hold our school and our organization hostage by refusal, it's completely ridiculous," Brattin told CBS Sports. "I shouldn't even have to be sponsoring a bill like this.
"I think it falls squarely upon the coach who gave the anointed blessing to this type of behavior. If they want to engage in this type of behavior, do it on their own time."
Ian Simon, the now-former team captain who organized the black players' boycott, told The Columbia Missourian HB 1743 treats student-athletes like football players rather than as students that also play football.
"They want to call us student-athletes, but they keep us out of the student part of it," he said. "I'm more than just a football player... As soon as we're done playing at the University of Missouri, the University of Missouri does not care about us anymore. We are not their responsibility... Our sport is just a small part of who we are."
