[DC 86]

I will pose this question again, if anyone knows, and this is just fro a fiduciary perspective: Does CM have any fiduciary responsibility to play given he is on scholarship? Are scholarship players allowed to take themselves out of games? And, if he does have that sort of fiduciary responsibility, did he have to remove himself from scholarship? Or perhaps this is an exceptional case where he asked permission from his coach and it was (obviously) given? Just curious...

-m.

An athlete does not have a fiduciary responsibility, however an athlete voluntarily withdrawing from a team is grounds for termination of a scholarship.

Historically athletes that quit a team at Stanford have usually had their scholarships honored for the remainder of that academic year, although the university is not obligated to do so.

The question about an athlete removing himself/herself mid-game is tricky because the athlete can simply claim an injury, which is hard to disprove. I suppose in such a case where the athlete simply refuses to continue playing mid-game the university could consider that action as a de facto voluntary resignation from the team and terminate the scholarship.

In McCaffrey's case the scholarship termination language is a moot point, fall quarter is over and he isn't going to enroll for winter quarter.

Summary is that the university can terminate a scholarship for cause but there is no legal language in the grant-in-aid or precedent for a university to pursue damages from a student athlete who simply decides to withdraw from a team.

[DC 86]

I will pose this question again, if anyone knows, and this is just fro a fiduciary perspective: Does CM have any fiduciary responsibility to play given he is on scholarship? Are scholarship players allowed to take themselves out of games? And, if he does have that sort of fiduciary responsibility, did he have to remove himself from scholarship? Or perhaps this is an exceptional case where he asked permission from his coach and it was (obviously) given? Just curious...

-m.

An athlete does not have a fiduciary responsibility, however an athlete voluntarily withdrawing from a team is grounds for termination of a scholarship.

Historically athletes that quit a team at Stanford have usually had their scholarships honored for the remainder of that academic year, although the university is not obligated to do so.

The question about an athlete removing himself/herself mid-game is tricky because the athlete can simply claim an injury, which is hard to disprove. I suppose in such a case where the athlete simply refuses to continue playing mid-game the university could consider that action as a de facto voluntary resignation from the team and terminate the scholarship.

In McCaffrey's case the scholarship termination language is a moot point, fall quarter is over and he isn't going to enroll for winter quarter.

Summary is that the university can terminate a scholarship for cause but there is no legal language in the grant-in-aid or precedent for a university to pursue damages from a student athlete who simply decides to withdraw from a team.