COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) – College athletes are learning the power of teamwork goes beyond scoring touchdowns and winning conference titles.
The Missouri football team banded together to add some high-profile heft to a campus protest that resulted in Monday’s resignation of Tim Wolfe, the president of the state university system. Wolfe was under scrutiny for how he handled complaints about racism and other student-welfare issues, and he was out of a job just two days after the football players indicated they wouldn’t practice or play unless changes were made.
That plan included skipping Saturday’s game against BYU in Kansas City, which would have cost the school more than $1 million.
It was an extraordinary declaration of solidarity coming at a time when the leaders of college sports are adjusting to more empowered and outspoken athletes than they’ve seen in years, emboldened by court victories against the NCAA – and now with the ability to vote on NCAA legislation – and more vocal than ever thanks to social media.
“These black football players understood that they have the power,” said Shaun Harper, executive director for the Study of Race and Equity in Education at the University of Pennsylvania. “That is so rare. I don’t know another class of black people on a university campus that has as much power as these guys, who generate millions of dollars for their institutions and billions of dollars for their athletic conferences. Not in our modern history have we seen black students collectively flex their muscle in this way.”