When the University of Missouri’s Black football players threatened a boycott in support of a protest about racial injustices on their campus last fall, it was a light-bulb moment for athletes’ activism.
More than 30 Black players declared they would not take part in meetings, practices or games until university President Tim Wolfe was removed from his position.
Wolfe had come under intense public scrutiny as a result of his alleged negligence in addressing Black students’ complaints about the hostile racial climate at the university. Jonathan Butler, a graduate student, staged a hunger strike to call attention to the plight of Black students in that situation.
Butler and the Black players were not alone in their dissent. The football coaching staff and the athletic department gave their complete backing. The Southeastern Conference, of which Missouri is a member, also gave its full support.
Making an impact
If the boycott had taken place, the school would have been required to pay a $1 million penalty to upcoming opponent Brigham Young University for not playing the game. The economic ramifications of this move produced the desired results very quickly. The players’ boycott was first announced on a Saturday. Two days later, Wolfe resigned.
“What happened at Missouri is an example of the power of student-athletes to effect change on college campuses,” says Dr. Emmett Gill, a professor at The University of Texas at San Antonio and founder of the Student-Athlete’s Human Rights Project, an advocacy group. “For the Missouri football team to join the boycott and then to force the resignation of the [MU] president within 36 hours was just incredible.”
