Missouri student president: School has racism, also unity

“The University of Missouri is a signal for other universities to take notice that it’s no longer business as usual as far as the handling diversity”, she said, reports USA Today. Chief among them was the resignation of President Wolfe. On Tuesday, that professor, Melissa Click, apologized for her language and behavior, and resigned from her courtesy appointment title with the University of Missouri journalism school.

“We are excited for the new leadership under Interim President Middleton!” tweeted Concerned Student 1950, an advocacy group named for the year the school admitted its first black student. Black students drove in from throughout the region to join them.

The University of Missouri named a black interim president on Thursday after the incumbent was forced out amid an escalating race row, as a wave of protests spread to half a dozen U.S. campuses. He also has worked as a civil rights attorney. He served as the Interim Vice Provost for Minority Affairs and Faculty Development, and most recently served as Deputy Chancellor.

His comments came the same day a man accused of making online threats against black people on the Columbia campus was ordered to remain jailed on a charge of making a terroristic threat.

His bona fides contributed to a warm welcome and vigorous applause from university administrators and leaders of two black student groups who attended Middleton’s news conference. “I don’t know”, University of Missouri Officer Dustin Heckmaster wrote.

Park, a sophomore at Missouri S&T, was arrested Wednesday at his dorm room.

The turn of events in Missouri is inspiring students on campuses around the county.

“We’re waiting for you at the parking lots”, read one of the messages. Heckmaster said he asked if the threats amounted to “saber rattling”, and Park responded, “pretty much”. “It shows that if you have a few support behind it, you can get a few change”. “Don’t go to campus tomorrow”, the Associated Press reported. So I was there but I also wanted to be there. Middleton said Thursday that he understood the widespread frustration with the university but was optimistic about the future. There was also a rumor the Ku Klux Klan had arrived on the Columbia campus, which turned out to be baseless.

The University of Missouri made headlines this week after demands for the resignation of university President Tim Wolfe was met. The football players issued a statement Saturday night supporting the protesters and saying they would not play the following weekend. That threat vanished Monday when Wolfe resigned.

“The students and concerned members of the University of Missouri have given us all a wake up call”, Chapel said, adding that the actions of student activists in standing up to inequality is “commendable”.

“It shows administrations that this is something that they need to take seriously”, said Eshe Sherley, a senior at Yale University, where over 1,000 people marched this week in solidarity with minorities, according to CBS NY. “I am just trying to do what I think is best for our students and the university as an institution …”

When organizers opened the microphone to protestors, they said they would give preference to black women and non-black students of color in order to create a space for those usually denied a voice.