At Mizzou, Race Relations Have Been Complicated – But Change Is Coming

Tensions seething at the school culminated early last week with the resignations of University of Missouri System President Tim Wolfe and Columbia campus Chancellor R. Bowen Loftin.

Koger, a member of the People of Color Coalition and Umoja, BU’s black student union, said the racial tension and violence is not an isolated incident and, especially in times like these, it demands attention.

Local students said they got the “wake-up call” and are now ready to learn from these protesters about how to address racial inequities and discrimination on campus.

In a statement Monday night, Turner said he had received the list of demands and looked “forward to reviewing it carefully and continuing discussions with student leaders regarding the requests and perspectives it contains”.

Healing a campus riven by student protests over race relations and recent online terror threats isn’t just a mandate for interim University of Missouri system president Mike Middleton. As a young man, he himself protested against civil rights violations as well as the Vietnam War.

Black Lives Matter and Mizzou protesters made headlines after Breitbart compiled insensitive tweets and remarks, implying they were there at the school, showing their outrage.

Another important issue in the Mizzou saga is what appears to be the most common disease among university administrators anywhere in the world.

They described their life at the university with the words “motivated”, “misunderstood”, “challenged” and “joy”.

“It wasn’t just black power”, she added. The group also wants the percentage of underrepresented students on campus to be increased.

“There are a lot of related issues that are going around campuses where people are just not communicating well, and I would love to see Chapman really focus on having a meaningful approach to these important and hard issues, rather than being reactive”, Price said.

The numbers don’t make for ready role models, said Beth Olivares, dean for diversity initiatives at the University of Rochester.

But this incident was not the only thing that drew Mizzou students’ attention on racial issues. While the threats have led to several arrests, without indications that those posting the threats actually meant to carry them out, these actions have caused fear at many campuses.

Bear in mind that 35,000-student body at Mizzou is reportedly 79 percent white and only 8 percent black, yet elected an African-American as its student government president. The event was called by groups affiliated with the ALANA center (African American, Latino, Asian, Native American and Arab students).

Among the top schools for hiring black faculty were Mount Holyoke College, with almost 10 percent; Haverford College, with 8.6; and nearby Swarthmore College, with 7 percent.

“I would be surprised if anything at Mizzou were to happen at KU”, Sinclair McDonald, a sophomore from Atlanta who is black, said of acts of racism on the campus of KU.

Younis, a transfer student from the University of Missouri, told the crowd that she was thankful for the encouragement and unity that has been shown toward her former school. She parted time growing up between the two countries.

Allen, the SMU senior, said student protests at Missouri created a “spark” at SMU. “To students of color – to people of color everywhere – we stand with you”.

Dr. Cross’s cynical but witty reply: “We want to build a university our football team can be proud of”. Asking a student “Where are you from?” suggests they aren’t a true American.

The message is embraced even if all the tactics are not. He did not discuss the illegal and unconstitutional exclusion of journalists from the Missouri protest site.

Opposition to the racism on college campuses raises the issue of free speech, Licklider said. It seemed that there’s been little evidence presented to support these claims of racism and protests. The University of Missouri is also a public research university with a student demographic that parallels UF. When I showed up as a student journalist to a meeting of the College Republicans or the College Democrats, the groups were mainly white. Activists at Occidental College noted their demand for a black studies major has existed since 1968. She wishes change wasn’t necessary.

“We’re doing this so we won’t have to keep doing it in the future”, Hunter said.