Missouri bill aims to strip scholarships from college athletes who refuse to play

Republican lawmaker in Missouri House proposes bill a month after University of
Missouri football players protested against school president Tim Wolfe

Ryan Felton in Detroit
Monday 14 December 2015 23.53 GMT

A Republican lawmaker in the Missouri House of Representatives has proposed a bill that aims to strip scholarships from college athletes who refuse to play for non-health related issues.

The bill comes a month after University of Missouri president Tim Wolfe resigned under pressure from students and activists over a lack of responsiveness to racist incidents on campus. The university’s football team had said it would refuse to play until Wolfe stepped down.

The bill sponsors didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. But one of the sponsors, state rep Kurt Bahr, told the Columbian Missourian the bill was “obviously in reaction to the athletes who were saying they weren’t going to play to what they considered to be social issues on campus”.

“I don’t think that is an appropriate response on their part,” Bahr said.

According to the pre-filed bill, if enacted, 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”. Additionally, the bill continues, “any member of a coaching staff who encourages or enables a college athlete to engage in behavior” prohibited under the bill “shall be fined by his or her institution of employment”.

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