This proposal seems only fair. Why should student athletes need to strike, anyway?

The College Fix reports.

Missouri bill would revoke sports scholarships from ‘striking athletes’

A little over a week ago, two Missouri state representatives put forth a bill that “would require colleges to revoke scholarships held by healthy student-athletes” who decline to participate in their respective sport(s).

The legislation also calls for fines against coaches “who endorse such actions.”

The bill is a reaction against the University of Missouri football team, which in early November threatened to boycott the remainder of its games unless the college president resigned.

President Tim Wolfe ended up doing just that.

“Any college athlete who calls, incites, supports, or participates in any strike or concerted refusal to play a scheduled game shall have his or her scholarship revoked,” the bill reads. “Any member of a coaching staff who encourages or enables a college athlete to engage in (such) behavior … shall be fined by his or her institution of employment.”

The bill’s sponsors say there is no violation of students’ free speech rights.

The Kansas City Star reports:

State Rep. Rick Brattin, a Harrisonville Republican, filed the legislation, H.B. 1743, on Friday. State Rep. Kurt Bahr, an O’Fallon Republican, is a co-sponsor.

Bahr said the incident prompted him to re-examine the relationship between student-athletes and the universities where they play.

“The student has a right to protest or to make their voice heard,” he said. “But if they have a contract to perform certain duties, and they violate that contract … then it’s not an issue of the First Amendment. It’s an issue of contract law. They failed to uphold that contract.”

Most U.S. universities already can cancel an athletic scholarship if a student fails to meet team rules or university policies. The Brattin bill would require universities to revoke scholarships if an otherwise healthy athlete refused to play or urged a player boycott.