Why student-athlete activism is rattling cages
A proposed bill in the Missouri legislature that would strip scholarships from student-athletes who boycott indicates the reemergence of a decades-old conflict between student-athletes and a society still not altogether comfortable with their embrace of political power.聽
鈥淭his [bill] fits into a broader pattern of resistance to student-athlete activism,鈥� says Gregory Kaliss, a historian at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pa., and author of the book, 鈥淢en鈥檚 College Athletics and the Politics of Racial Equality.鈥�
The Missouri legislators, he says, are 鈥渦neasy about the fact that these athletes have power and ideas and voices that run counter to what they want them to have. This is a kind of power play: 鈥榃e鈥檙e the ones who are in charge and not you.鈥� 鈥�
While campuses nationwide have been alight with protest movements demanding a greater voice for minority students this fall, the activism at the University of Missouri stands apart: It is the only university where a president has stepped down. But that didn't happen until the minority football players, with head coach Gary Pinkel鈥檚 support,聽said they would not take the field until President Timothy Wolfe resigned 鈥� a move that may have tipped the balance, .
"What is clear is that a dormant voice awoke this year with enormous implications. Of all the sports stories of the year, Missouri was the most powerful," Howard Bryant.
, which State Rep. Rick Brattin (R) of Harrisonville filed Monday, seeks to revoke the scholarship of 鈥渁ny college athlete who calls, incites, supports, or participates in any strike or concerted refusal to play a scheduled game.鈥� The legislation also calls for fines for coaching staff who support or encourage athletes to participate in such actions.
鈥淎thletics has a prominent place in big, major schools,鈥� Dr. Kaliss says. 鈥淎thletes have a certain amount of clout, a certain amount of power, they bring in a lot of money.鈥�
In effect, 鈥淲hen the University of Missouri athletes decided to stand against the racist environment at Mizzou, they began to hold the purse strings hostage,鈥� says Maurice Hobson, assistant professor of African-American studies at Georgia State University.
State Rep. Kurt Bahr (R) of O鈥橣allon, who co-sponsored the bill, said the strike prompted him to reconsider the relationship between student-athletes and the institutions for which they play.
鈥淭he student has a right to protest or to make their voice heard,鈥� he . 鈥淏ut if they have a contract to perform certain duties, and they violate that contract 鈥� then it鈥檚 not an issue of the First Amendment. It鈥檚 an issue of contract law. They failed to uphold that contract.鈥�
But others question that line of thinking, arguing that it discourages students from exercising their rights and thinking critically about important issues.
鈥淪tudents have every right to exercise power,鈥� says聽Randal Jelks, professor of American studies and African and African-American studies at the University of Kansas in Lawrence. 鈥淚 think one of the functions of a college or university is to help develop engaged, thoughtful citizens 鈥� to help students become more informed, more involved, and more active in local and national communities.鈥�
鈥淚f athletes are becoming informed, becoming involved, becoming more engaged, then 鈥� we should not be punishing them [for that],鈥� he adds.
鈥楽tick to basketball鈥�
Resistance to athlete activism is hardly new, Professor Jelks and others note.
Boxing legend Muhammad Ali faced sharp public criticism when, despite being drafted, he , saying, 鈥淚 am not going 10,000 miles from home to help murder and burn another poor nation simply to continue the domination of white slave masters of the darker people the world over. This is the day when such evils must come to an end.鈥�
He was subsequently charged with draft evasion, before the United States Supreme Court overturned his conviction.
In , basketball Hall of Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 鈥� who supported Mr. Ali during that period and has long advocated for equality and civil rights 鈥� writes of the opposition he continues to face when he presents himself as an activist and political commentator.
Despite the fact that I鈥檝e been writing about politics longer than I played basketball, many of my critics begin their comments with, 鈥淪tick to basketball, Kareem.鈥� But 鈥� [b]y dismissing someone鈥檚 opinions based on profession, such critics are also dismissing their own opinions as frivolous (鈥淪tick to plumbing!鈥� 鈥淪tick to tax dodging!鈥� 鈥淪tick to proctology!鈥�). Whose vocation makes them an expert on all social or political matters? As we鈥檝e seen during the presidential campaign, even the candidates aren鈥檛 experts.鈥�
To some, the Missouri bill speaks to a broader culture that sees athletes 鈥� even student-athletes 鈥� primarily as workers.
鈥淭he idea around this is, 鈥業f you don鈥檛 work, you don鈥檛 eat,鈥� 鈥� says Professor Hobson, who played college football for the University of Alabama at Birmingham in the mid-1990s. 鈥淭o hang that over these young people鈥檚 heads, particularly some that may not be able to attend college by other means 鈥� it really positions the idea that values the body over the mind.鈥�
Former Missouri safety Ian Simon, who was among the leaders of the boycott, : 鈥淭hey want to call us student-athletes, but they keep us out of the student part of it. [But] I鈥檓 more than just a football player. 鈥� Our sport is just a small part of who we are.鈥�
鈥楢 resurgence of consciousness鈥�
For college athletes, especially in universities where聽, there is a聽growing awareness of the considerable clout they wield, some say.
鈥淲e鈥檙e seeing a resurgence of consciousness where [student-athletes] are saying, 鈥業 do a service for the university, and I can make a decision,鈥� 鈥� Hobson says.
Such consciousness, he and others say, is a throwback to the civil rights protests of the late 1960s and early 1970s, when athletes 鈥� both college and professional 鈥� used their positions to take a visible stand on the issues of the day: As a player for the basketball team at the University of California in Los Angeles, Hall of Famer Bill Walton participated in protests against Vietnam.聽
African-American Olympians John Carlos and Tommie Smith became symbols of the civil rights movement when they raised their fists in a Black Power salute upon receiving their medals at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City.
And when boxing legend Muhammad Ali was convicted of draft evasion, other athletes 鈥� Mr. Abdul-Jabbar as well as Bill Russell, Jim Brown, and Bobby Mitchell 鈥� .
鈥淚鈥檓 seeing when Ali and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar more than 40 years ago stood up and said, 鈥榃e鈥檙e not down with this,鈥� 鈥� says Garrett Duncan, an assistant professor of African-American studies at Washington University in St. Louis. 鈥淎nd I see these modern-day athletes, and they are part of a tradition of athletes who say [to the system], 鈥榊eah, we鈥檒l play for you, but you need to play for us.鈥� 鈥�
Athlete activism dimmed in the late 1980s and 1990s, in part due to growing concerns around losing endorsements in the face of bad publicity. But the events at Mizzou and other universities 鈥� Oklahoma football players skipping practice to protest a racist chant, for instance, and Northwestern University athletes鈥� bid to unionize 鈥� suggest that a 鈥渟pirit of activism,鈥� as Kaliss puts it, is returning amid a broader wave of advocacy for black and minority communities.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think it鈥檚 a coincidence that where we see athletes getting involved is down the road from Ferguson,鈥� Kaliss says, referring to the Missouri city where the protest movement erupted in August 2014 after teenager Michael Brown was shot by a police officer.
Indeed, for some, the events at the University of Missouri and beyond herald the beginning of a broader shift in the role athletes can and will play in driving change and shaping public discourse.
鈥淭he conventional wisdom seems to be that athletes should never step outside their roles as entertainers to pontificate,鈥� Abdul-Jabbar writes for Time. 鈥淭hat attitude is a stereotype of the dumb jock who is too busy jamming smart, adorkable kids into lockers to know anything about the world around them except what Coach tells them.
鈥淭hose days are over, folks.鈥�
