The president of the University of Missouri system and the head of its flagship campus resigned Monday with the football team and others on campus in open revolt over what they saw as indifference to racial tensions at the school.
President Tim Wolfe, a former business executive with no previous experience in academic leadership, took "full responsibility for the frustration" students expressed and said their complaints were "clear" and "real."
For months, black student groups had complained that Wolfe was unresponsive to racial slurs and other slights on the overwhelmingly white main campus of the state's four-college system. The complaints came to a head two days ago, when at least 30 black football players announced they would not play until the president left. A graduate student went on a weeklong hunger strike.
It appears Wolfe's statements upon his resignation were.....interesting.
"This is not the way change comes about," he said, alluding to recent protests, in a halting statement that was simultaneously apologetic, clumsy and defiant. "We stopped listening to each other."
He urged students, faculty and staff to use the resignation "to heal and start talking again to make the changes necessary."
Heck, if Wolfe was gonna come off so buffoon-ish, I wish he had said something to the effect "To be clear, I am NOT resigning over boycott threats by members of the football team. I mean, are you aware of their record? They suck!"
I digress.
Many of the protests have been led by an organization called Concerned Student 1950, which gets its name from the year the university accepted its first black student. Group members besieged Wolfe's car at the parade, and they conducted a weeklong sit-in on a campus plaza.
Never ones to be all that self-aware, these "Social Justice Warriors" demanding that Wolfe step down later put forth a stunning display of irony. After using their First Amendment rights to protest Wolfe remaining Missouri's president, they then tried to ban the media from covering the event once the "rally" appeared to spin out of control.
Finally, I'll just leave this here:
Brothers and Sisters, this is a momentus occassion but do not be moved! Our Brother can eat, but we are still owed Demands! Stay strong!
— ConcernedStudent1950 (@CS_1950) November 9, 2015
- I personally don't care if Starbucks decided not to put Christmas emblems on their red cups. Nor am I concerned if they're a secular organization attempting to stick a proverbial thumb in the eye of Christians. Unfortunately, some of my fellow Christians raised a big stink about such controversies that may or may not exist.
A word the wise: Quite being a tool. Such faux outrage is only helping Starbucks' brand.
- It'll be a busy political night for me on Tuesday.
I am actually looking forward to the "main event" portion of the GOP presidential debate, especially in light of the media's pathetic attempts to smear candidates Ben Carson and Marco Rubio. However, I'll have to DVR it as I will be attending a candidate forum taking place in my state senate district. With Sen. Branden Petersen having resigned, 4 Republican hopefuls will be vying for the party endorsement this weekend ahead of the special election early next year. As such, Tuesday evening is the candidates' final big opportunity to make their case to Senate District 35 delegates, of which I am one.
While the forum will not change whom I'm personally supporting, I will be interested in the rationale of one candidate who has said he will not commit to support the endorsed candidate if it's not him yet was publicly critical of me for supporting a candidate last year who also didn't commit to abiding.
Getcha popcorn.
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