A handful of racially-charged incidents on the University of Missouri campus this fall have captured the media’s attention. We’ve all read about how the school’s poor handling of these racial tensions led to the students protesting and demonstrating for weeks. The movement received a real boost when dozens of black football players of the university’s team joined the protests and gave an ultimatum to the university President: they wouldn’t play until the President resigned.
The following series of on-campus episodes only fueled the fire further. Incidents of racial slurs aimed at black students and a swastika spotted on a wall in a residence hall elicited what students viewed a sluggish response from the university administration, which only resulted in the more demanding protests for the removal of the President.
Months of student and faculty protests finally culminated on November 9th, when the President Timothy M. Wolfe announced he was resigning and the Chancellor R. Bowen Loftin said he would be stepping down to a less influential role. During the press conference, Mr. Wolfe said he took the responsibility for the anger and frustration on campus. However, the uneasiness took on a new dimension on November 11th, when anonymous threats against black students were posted on the social media site Yik Yak. Two suspects were arrested on the same day, and even though the University of Missouri’s online emergency information center said the campus was “opeating on a regular schedule,” the incident took its toll on campus life. Many black students decided to stay away from the campus, and some students used social media to converse about how school looked like a “ghost town,” with typically bustling parts of the school looking abandoned.
On November 12th, #InSolidarityWithMizzou started trending on Facebook and Twitter. Students from universities across the US showed solidarity for University of Missouri students. So far, dozens of universities have expressed their support. For many, the incidents are an extension and continuation of the #BlackLivesMatter movement, and draw attention to an issue much bigger than the University of Missouri campus; times like these call for unity and remaining silent means complying with violence.
Information obtained from:
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/10/us/university-of-missouri-system-president-resigns.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/12/us/university-of-missouri-protests.html?_r=0
http://www.techinsider.io/university-of-missouri-yik-yak-2015-11
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