Is This Texas College Rejecting Students From Weed-Legal States?

Despite the fact that medicinal cannabis legal in 29 states and recreational pot is permitted in nine states and the District of Columbia, there is still discrimination amongst its legal users, especially amongst educational institutions. Even in weed-legal states, colleges can still find ways to banish the plant, and in turn, punish students who might occasionally indulge in the green.

However, it appears one university has taken their anti-marijuana stance to a whole new level.

The Rejection

Texas Wesleyan University, a private school in Forth Worth, remains in hot water after an e-mail, sent by their longtime baseball coach Mike Jeffcoat, went viral earlier in the week.

In the letter, the coach notified a potential recruit that the school would not be accepting any prospective students from Colorado, a state synonymous with the term “recreational marijuana.” The university confirmed the e-mail on Wednesday.

“Thanks for the interest in our program. Unfortunately, we are not recruiting players from the state of Colorado. In the past, players have had trouble passing our drug test.

We have made a decision to not take a chance on Student-athletes from your state. You can thank your liberal politicians. Best of Luck wherever you decide to play,” Jeffcoat wrote in the email, per the Houston Chronicle.

The e-mail was, unsurprisingly, met with an enormous amount of backlash. The university’s vice president for marketing and communications, John Veilleux, sent a statement to the Chronicle, acknowledging the coach’s wrongdoing.

“We’re definitely aware of the email sent out by our baseball coach and the comments he made are in no way a reflection of Texas Wesleyan University, its values or its recruiting practices,” Veilleux said in the statement.

“This is a personnel matter and it is currently under investigation,” he told the paper. “We follow due process here. It is our university policy to not discuss personnel matters.”

The university also released a formal apology on their website, which was subsequently shared on the school’s Twitter account:

Final Hit: Is This Texas College Rejecting Students From Weed-Legal States?

The status of Jeffcoat, who has coached the team since 2002, and is the baseball program’s all-time leader in wins with a 529-358-1 record, remains up-in-the-air.

The university plans to do a full investigation of the matter, but it’s clear his discriminating e-mail could result in the former major leaguer losing his job.

Several irate people took to Twitter, calling for the termination of Jeffcoat.

“If you don’t condone discrimination, fire your baseball coach. Otherwise, yes, yes, you do,” one Twitter user said.

“Actions speak louder than words. What your coach did is discrimination. I hope you are smart enough to understand you need to fire the coach. I hope the kid sues the school,” another added.

It’s unclear what TWU plans to do with Jeffcoat at the moment, but with more and more states legalizing the plant both medically and recreationally, it’s unlikely they’ll even be able to field a team with their current coach’s ideologies.

Wouldn’t that be ironic?