Around the country students are calling for changes at colleges and universities. Some of the demands for change are more than reasonable – if not overdue. Others clearly trample free speech and are out of place in an intellectual environment. But one protest stands out – the actions of the some of the University of Missouri’s football team.

Instead of bemoaning the system, seeking to stifle debate or seeking separation (apparently no one tells college students that life itself is not a very safe space), the players realized their place in the community and the power they held as a result. Their refusal to play football until the school’s president was removed was a classic example of noncooperation. They just refused to participate in the system, and it couldn’t function without them. In the end, their read on who held the real power was accurate, and in a matter of days they prevailed.