April 4th 2024.
Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry recently expressed his disappointment with the LSU women's basketball team for their absence during the national anthem. He even went as far as calling for their scholarships to be revoked due to their absence. However, a spokesperson for LSU clarified that this goes against the team's usual practice, as well as that of the Tigers and Lady Tigers.
Landry's comments came after the team chose to stay in the locker room during the anthem, which is a practice they have been following for several seasons now. According to Cody Worsham, an LSU athletics spokesperson, the team usually uses this time to do final preparations before the game. Head coach Kim Mulkey also confirmed this, stating that they follow a routine where they are on the court for a specific time and then return to the locker room.
The practice of staying in the locker room during the anthem was initially implemented in 2016, during the time of Colin Kaepernick's anthem protests. At that time, Louisiana legislators were so concerned about LSU's football players potentially joining the protests that they even threatened to withdraw funding for the university. In response, LSU's president F. King Alexander assured them that the players were not on the field during the anthem to avoid any potential protests.
It should be noted that imposing a requirement for college athletes to stand for the national anthem could lead to a legal challenge. As per the First Amendment, individuals have the right to free speech, which was further emphasized in a 1943 Supreme Court decision regarding the education system. In West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, the Court ruled that students and teachers at public schools, including LSU, have the right to not salute the flag or recite the Pledge of Allegiance.
Landry's comments come at a sensitive time for the NCAA, as they are currently facing backlash for not compensating their athletes for their labor. While Landry's fellow Republicans are against the idea of student-athletes forming a union, Democrats have expressed their support for a revenue-sharing model. During a hearing in March, California Representative Mark DeSaulnier stated that unionization could lead to a more equitable system for college athletes who often get the short end of the stick in a multi-billion-dollar industry.
Mark Gaston Pierce, the executive director of the Workers Rights Institute at Georgetown Law, also believes that college sports should be treated as a job. He argues that the athletes deserve to receive their fair share of the profits, otherwise, it's just another form of slavery. "We're talking about sports being a job here," Pierce says. "And it's a job that benefits not only the institutions but also the NCAA. It's essential for athletes to be able to reap these benefits equally, or at least significantly, to avoid it becoming a form of slavery."
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