A Missouri lawmaker wants to revoke the scholarship funds of college athletes who refuse to play for non-health-related reasons.
A bill filed by Missouri State Rep. Rick Brattin would revoke the scholarship of "any college athlete who calls, incites, supports, or participates in any strike or concerted refusal to play a scheduled game."
Brattin did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Mashable, but the bill's text suggests that the legislation would apply to student athletes at both public and private higher education institutions.
The legislation comes one month after black football players joined with students at the University of Missouri who had been protesting for weeks over the school's handling of racial tensions.
After dozens of members of the Missouri Tigers football team joined the protests, vowing to strike until the university system's then-president Timothy Wolfe resigned or was "removed due to his negligence toward marginalized students' experiences," Wolfe resigned on Nov. 9. The university's chancellor, R. Bowen Loftin, announced that he would step down, remaining at the university in a less-prominent research role.
We are no longer taking it. It's time to fight. #ConcernedStudent1950 #MizzouHungerStrike pic.twitter.com/mnPZBviqJF— LBC (@MizzouLBC) November 8, 2015
A co-sponsor of the legislation, Missouri State Rep. Kurt Bahr, said that he backed the legislation "as a way of showing support for the idea of holding students responsible who are taking state dollars."
The legislation would also levy fines on "any member of a coaching staff who encourages or enables a college athlete" to participate in a strike.
After the Missouri football players announced their strike, former Missouri Tigers head coach Gary Pinkel expressed his support for the move, writing on Twitter that the team "stands as one."
It's unclear what chances the bill stands in Missouri's Republican-controlled state legislature. The bill's sponsor, a Republican whose district includes parts of the Kansas City suburbs, was elected in 2010.
The decision by Missouri's football players to join with student activists on campus to force the ouster of the university system's president was a vivid illustration of the power that college athletes can wield. A strike could have cost the university millions of dollars in losses to the university's athletic program.
If the Missouri Tigers football team's boycott had continued through a planned game against Brigham Young University, the university would have forfeited $1 million for breaking the contract between the two colleges.