Missouri legislator defends bill that would bar student-athlete protests

Critics call the proposed legislation in Missouri aimed at preventing university athletes on scholarship from boycotting games racist, an attack on the First Amendment and unenforceable.

But Rep. Rick Brattin told Paste BN Sports that his constituents have supported the draft of a bill introduced earlier this week and added HB 1743 can bring change --- even if the legislation never makes it to a committee in the Missouri House of Representatives.

“The hope is that the university acts so we don’t have to,” said Brattin, who represents the state’s 55th district. “We cannot have the student body, or in this case, the football team, going on strike and forcing out a school president. That cannot be allowed.”

Rep. Kurt Bahr, a fellow house Republican, also backs the proposed legislation that comes in response to University of Missouri football players a boycott in November.

More than 30 black Missouri football players said they would not participate in football-related activities until university President Tim Wolfe resigned.

The boycott was part of a larger movement on the campus --- which included a hunger strike by a grad student --- to voice concerns about how Wolfe handled racial harassment at the school.

Two days after the boycott that had the backing of then-head coach Gary Pinkel, the university president resigned.

Employees of the university who support boycotts would be fired, under the proposed bill.

“I think the students have created this situation where nobody wants to come here,” Brattin said. “There have been several prospects who have chosen not to go to MU because it’s in such disarray. We need to bring order back. The football team is a sports organization, not a political activist organization.”

Brattin said his legislation wouldn’t stifle the First Amendment because athletes would still be able to protest.

"This won't stop them from joining arm in arm to protest before or after practice," he said.

The Missouri House of Representatives is on recess until Jan. 6 and when it’s back in session. It’s not clear if the pre-filed bill would be taken up by a committee. A message left with House Speaker Todd Richardson was not immediately returned.

Rep. Brandon Ellington wrote in a statement that the “legislation is motivated by racism” and “has no place laws of a just society.”

“House Bill 1743 Seeks to further solidify and legalize institutional racism by targeting black athletes for exercising their constitutional rights to free speech and reducing them to status of subjugated livestock,” said Ellington, who chairs the Missouri Legislative Black Caucus."

The law doesn’t spell out how it would enforce the penalties against players or coaches. But Brattin said there needs to be something in place to prevent athletes from potentially costing the university millions.

The Tigers could have been fined $1 million under a contract with BYU for the Nov. 14 game that ultimately went ahead as scheduled.

“This bill isn’t going to stop them from expressing themselves before or after practice,” Brattin said. “What they can’t do is hold an entire university hostage and make Missouri taxpayers liable for million-dollar fines.”