Missouri football team to boycott games over ‘racism’

The University of Missouri has been deeply divided in recent weeks over the school administration’s handling of several racist incidents that occurred this fall, including one when intoxicated white students harassed the Legion of Black Collegians with the N-word, and another student reported being subjected to racial slurs.

In response, university president Tim Wolfe promised to tackle the problem. They were removed by police.

The football team’s record now sits at 4-5.

The university system’s governing body, the Board of Curators, has set a special meeting for Monday morning.

A petition for Wolfe’s resignation has reached almost 6,000 signatures, but Wolfe does not plan to step down. It’s a move that could cost the university millions if it is forced to cancel its upcoming game against Brigham Young University.

Criticism over what are being called missed opportunities for University of Missouri President Tim Wolfe to address racism on campus has led to a bipartisan call from state lawmakers for him to step down.

Head football coach Gary Pinkel expressed solidarity on Twitter, posting a picture of the team and coaches locking arms. The tweet said: “The Mizzou Family stands as one. We are united. We are behind our players”.

Pinkel and Missouri’s athletic director, Mack Rhoades, said the football team didn’t plan to return to practice until Butler starts eating.

Graduate student Jonathan Butler launched a hunger strike last week to protest Wolfe’s presidency, and in doing so became a public face of the outcry. In August, someone used feces to draw a swastika, drawing condemnation from black and Jewish student organizations. On Sunday, a truck displaying a Confederate flag drove by protesters.

At least 150 students gathered at the plaza Sunday night to pray, sing and read Bible verses, a larger crowd than on previous days. Many planned to camp there overnight amid temperatures that had dropped into the upper 30s.

Also joining in the protest effort are two graduate student groups that called for walkouts Monday and Tuesday.

Wolfe has apologized for his reaction to members of the group Concerned Student 1950 – named for the year the university accepted its first black student – who tried to approach him during the school’s October homecoming parade to address “Mizzou’s history of racial violence and exclusivity”.

“The way white students are treated is in stark contrast to the way black students and other marginalized students are treated”, said sit-in participant Abigail Hollis told the Associated Press.

Racial tensions boiled over in Missouri in 2014 after a white policeman killed unarmed black teenager Michael Brown in the town of Ferguson. The 35,000-student population is overwhelmingly white. About 3 percent of the university’s full-time faculty is black, and about 3 percent is Latino.

Wolfe, a former software company executive and 1980 Missouri graduate, began leading the four-campus system in February 2012.

Wolfe said Sunday that most of the group’s demands have already been incorporated into the university’s draft plan for promoting tolerance.

“It is clear to all of us that change is needed, and we appreciate the thoughtfulness and passion which have gone into the sharing of concerns”, Wolfe said.

Gov. Jay Nixon weighed in on Sunday, saying the “concerns must be addressed”.

The Chairman of the House Committee on Higher Education, Steve Cookson (R-Butler County), is also calling for Cookson to resign.