The University of Missouri System President Tim Wolfe has stepped down in response to the strike of about 30 of the university’s football players. The football players’ actions were in response to racial tensions and issues on the campus of the University of Missouri. This is a very important story because it brings light to a benefit of college sports and athletes that is often overlooked by those who challenge college athletics, including myself. 

There is no denying that there is a huge amount of power tied up in college athletics. But usually this leads to negative consequences, the ramifications of which any student in North Carolina should be aware of. The obvious example of this would be the recent allegations (read: findings) of corruption at UNC-Chapel Hill. The situation with UNC-CH is very frustrating to anyone who cares about the merits of a serious attempt to educate the citizens of North Carolina and the country. 

It is an unfortunate situation with which we are all too familiar. What happened at UNC-CH shows that the money and power involved in college athletics can be a catalyst for corruption within education and can distort the priorities of a university. When I learned about what has been going on at UNC-CH, I thought of this as a clear indicator for why college athletics could only result in negative consequences due to the power and money that is inherent in the system today. However, I had not considered that it was possible that this power could be used for good. 

This is why this story is important. The student athletes of the University of Missouri recognized the power that they had and used it for something that they believed in: They created leverage. The contract between Missouri and Brigham Young amplified the student athletes’ relevance since the school would have had to pay out $1 million in reparations if they decided to forfeit.

The students did not think that the president had done enough to deal with the racial tensions at the university, and they used the clout they knew they had to force him to resign. This could lead to serious change for the better in terms of the racial tensions and issues at the University of Missouri. Whether or not the student athletes’ success here does result in significant change, this story shows the power that student athletes have and that it can be used to fight for a good cause. 

This is not an attempt to say now everything is fine with college athletics, and we should let them be. There is still too much power in the athletic department of many, if not most, schools within the United States that opens up the ability for individuals to corrupt the system and pervert the priorities in our universities. However, this is what the situation is currently: This power is quite real and both good and bad uses of this power are evidence of its existence. The case of UNC-CH exemplifies the bad use of this power while the situation with the athletes of the University of Missouri illustrates a good use of this power. While this is true, student athletes need to realize the serious power they have and be willing to use that power for causes that they believe in like the football players at the University of Missouri.  These student athletes are a great model to follow for using that power for good.