UM Board of Curators Introduces Mike Middleton as UM System Interim President

Finally, we have witnessed our fearless students who sacrificed their own needs to do work that should have been done long before they joined our community.

The University of Missouri’s Board of Curators has named Michael Middleton, a recently retired senior administrator at the school, as the university system’s interim president. Hours later, the top administrator of the Columbia campus, Chancellor R. Bowen Loftin, was forced out.

For their part, the group applauded Middleton’s appointment. He later became a law professor at the university and was then deputy chancellor for 17 years before retiring this summer. He also served as a trial attorney in the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice.

He also helped found the Legion of Black Collegians, a student group involved in the current protest, and himself participated in previous campus protests for civil rights and against the Vietnam War.

Chuck Henson, a black law professor and associate dean, was appointed Tuesday as the university’s first-ever interim vice chancellor for inclusion, diversity and equity.

At Thursday’s bail hearing, Park appeared via video conference from jail, wearing a black-and-white striped shirt and trousers.

Internet users of the Yik Yak social media gossip app popular among college students aren’t almost as anonymous as they believe: Missouri police within hours arrested a student accused of threatening violence, the latest in a string of such arrests at colleges in recent months involving threats posted online. On October 10, the coalition and other activists halted Mizzou’s Homecoming parade, blocking University of Missouri System President Tim Wolfe’s vehicle to send the message that the administration can not ignore students’ voices regarding the issue.

One student said the request was not meant to exclude anyone. Yixiang Gao, a Chinese student from Shanghai, said he felt safe, but he described the campus climate as “very heavy” on the night the threats emerged.

Campus police arrested Hunter M. Park, 19, in Rolla at 1:50 a.m. and took him to jail in Columbia, about 75 miles to the northwest.

Heckmaster wrote that Park admitted the posts were “inappropriate”. “Don’t go to campus tomorrow”, another post read. I asked if he was quoting the Umpqua shooting; he replied “mmhmm”. I know which side I am on.

“By holding class at our regular time, I would be forcing my students who do and probably should feel threatened, to implicitly disobey me in order to protect their lives by not attending my class”, he wrote.

A message left by The Associated Press on Park’s mother’s cellphone was not returned.

Also charged Wednesday with making a terroristic threat on Yik Yak to kill black people was Connor B. Stottlemyre, a freshman at Northwest Missouri State University, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

The group known as Concerned Student 1950, which has been leading much of the protest activity on Missouri’s campus, tweeted Thursday that they “strongly support” Mr. Middleton’s appointment as interim president but “we are still pushing for shared governance”, and that students should have a say in the permanent choice.

Earlier this week, Mizzou’s President and Chancellor stepped down after students vigorously protested racially charged events on campus.