It’s been a very busy couple of days for those at the University of Missouri. After repeated racial incidents and tensions that students felt were mishandled or ignored, protests began and graduate student Jonathan Butler went on a hunger strike, calling for the removal of university president Tim Wolfe as well as a list of demands for a more inclusive community. The turning point was when black football players, with the support of their head coach, insisted they would not play or practice until the president resigned.
The chairman of the state’s House Higher Education Committee said it had become clear that Wolfe could “no longer effectively lead.” Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon and U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill pressed the university to act. The university system’s governing board responded by calling an emergency meeting. That is where Wolfe appeared Monday morning, appearing to hold back tears as he announced that he would step down. “I’ve thought and prayed about this decision. It’s the right to do,” Wolfe said.
The future will tell if the university is really committed to change.
Team Blackness discussed the events at the university in detail, as well as the “gentler” war on drugs, and the latest controversy for Christians, this time concerning Starbucks.
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First Amendment: You’re Doing It Wrong
goblue72
The (Mizzou) kids are all-right. Been quite exciting to see lately young POC discovering their own agency and voice in the world. Power concedes nothing without a demand.
Lamh36
hmmm, why am I not surprised in the difference in the headline from EJW and the other post on this subject today.
patroclus
It was the athletes’ involvement in the issue (and Coach Pinkel supporting them) that was really the tipping point in forcing the UM administration to actually pay attention to the students’ concerns. And it was all done non-violently using the established methods of protest (as well as new technology) that forced the Tim Wolfe resignation. Wolfe had insensitively ignored everything until then. Now, though, everything is likely to quiet down, so it remains unclear whether any real change will occur about the other demands.
It shows how powerful athletes can be if they are united and active. It really resonated around the country and was a good short-term victory.
Gin & Tonic
Curious that despite the site redesign and supposed back-end improvements, the EJW double-posting continues. Tommy, any clues?
patroclus
@Lamh36: Wow, I didn’t even see that other thread – what a bizarre take on the issue!
burnspbesq
@patroclus:
Color me skeptical. The pool of entitled, insensitive, upper-middle-class white students whose indifference enables the (presumably small number of) overt racists gets replenished every year because Mizzou is, after all, the university of Missouri, a state that is still spiritually Confederate. Until those attitudes change …
burnspbesq
@Lamh36:
Are you suggesting that abusing the reporter was something other than massively stupid?
ThresherK
@goblue72: The surest mark of “power conceding nothing without demand” is how quickly those in power will whitewash (no sic) history.
As Nikki Haley taught us in SC, it’s best to pretend one’s leading the parade that was about to run them over.
patroclus
@burnspbesq: Yeah, I’m not all that optimistic either. But not only is the President resigning, the chancellor also will be gone by the end of the term, so with new leadership, there’s at least a good chance that more minority hires will be made and curriculum will be reviewed and might (slowly) change too. Other than resignations, the demands are really pretty mild and had, more or less, been acceptable to the previous administration (at least preliminarily; awaiting a report due next April). I’m just glad that the whole situation has been de-fused and it is at least possible that more positive change can result. Just two days ago, I thought this thing was potentially devastating and the football teams’ involvement really changed things massively.
goblue72
@ThresherK: True enough. Here’s hoping these students keep the pressure on and that they can lever the fear of upper management (“am I next?”) into some systemic changes.
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
@burnspbesq:
I think it was two sets of students who were a little too amped up by the situation having a bad interaction. The video starts with one of the protesters saying something to the photographer along the lines of, You can’t just push people out of the way to get your picture. Which is also true.
goblue72
@Lamh36: Which is why it matters WHO is doing the reporting/blogging/etc., no? And I agree, bit of a teachable moment. African American blogger post – Celebrating the accomplishment. White blogger post – Nitpicking on how the media was treated (and completely unable to see exactly how “white” she was being, right down to her crowing when the students recognized their “mistake”)
? Martin
My only observation here is that the black students on the football team got a little glimpse of what white privilege is like. In this narrow context they hold more economic power than anyone at the university including the President and once they learned how to wield that power, they were able to exert outsized influence on the institution.
That’s important on both sides. Its important for out-of-power groups to learn how to do this and see the possibilities of grabbing that lever of power, and it’s important for the establishment to start to take some of these hits. I guarantee a whole bunch of university heads woke up today with a slightly different perspective of their job. Not that I expect anything to change from this one incident – but perhaps there will be another and then a threat of yet another, and then change will come.
MomSense
@Mnemosyne (iPhone):
Seemed that way to me, too.
patroclus
@? Martin: That’s what I think is the most salient part of the incident – the power of the football team (when supported by the head coach, who is the highest paid state employee). As individuals, the players have virtually no power – if one or only a few of them had boycotted, they could well have lost their scholarships and had their lives irrevocably changed. But united (with the coach’s support), they were VERY powerful and change happened very quickly. Compare this though to the Northwestern attempt at forming a union and getting worker treament – which has (more or less) failed and to the O’Bannon effort/suit to get paid for using player images (which has resulted in the new “cost of attendance” stipend). Not so much united; not so much supported by the coaching fraternity. There, change either didn’t happen at all or was more incremental and took longer. Football players/athletes have more power than the average student, but only if they are united and are supported by some powers that be.
Was this a one-off? Applicable only to MU and these particular circumstances? Or is this a signal for greater change and greater athlete activism? It took courage for the athletes to do what they did and for Coach Pinkel to support them. It might not happen that way elsewhere in differnet circumstances.
Mnemosyne (tablet)
@patroclus:
Somebody said in another thread that this is the same coach and team that was all “who cares?” when Michael Sam came out and was openly gay while playing. If that’s the case, that is one great coach. We need more like him, especially in college and high school athletics.
SenyoDave
@goblue72: completely unable to see exactly how “white” she was being,
WTF? A group of protesters deciding that they will ignore basic First Amendment rights, and someone posts about it. Seems pretty fair. But apparently that is just so “white” of her. I especially liked how a university employee makes a veiled threat of physical violence, but I guess that’s just nitpicking. And the students recognizing their “mistake”? I hope they did, because a public space is just that.
SenyoDave
@Mnemosyne (tablet): Before anyone anoints Gary Pinkel as good guy of the year, you might want to google him about his players and rape and assault allegations. Here’s a link:
http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/local/alden-pinkel-say-they-weren-t-aware-of-title-ix/article_f7403620-5694-5585-9ce4-3a0d37960243.html
How Pinkel and the AD had a job after that case is astonishing. He wasn’t aware of Title IX requirements regarding alleged physical abuse involving athletes?
patroclus
@Mnemosyne (tablet): When Frank Beamer retires from Va. Tech at the end of the season, Pinkel will become the longest-tenured football coach in all of the FBS division. He is really a leader in the coaching industry and reminds me of Dean Smith (in basketball) at UNC, who provided similar leadership during stressful civil rights times. Unfortunately, Missouri is having a bad season this year and in the world of college football, that’s a job killer. (They are, however, the 2-time defending SEC East champ though). That’s one of the reasons I’m massively rooting for MU this weekend against BYU. Michael Sam was on campus this weekend and was involved in the boycott as an alum.
Granted, if Pinkel didn’t support his players, he could have lost African-American recruits for all time, so maybe it wasn’t THAT courageous. But he did support them instantly; notwithstanding that his “bosses” jobs were at stake. And not only did he support his African American players, he brought ALL the players along with him; keeping the whole team unified.
Mnemosyne (tablet)
@SenyoDave:
Going by the dialogue in the video, the photographer may have been trying to push people out of the way of his shot, which also is not cool. And I agree that since this was a conflict between two sets of students, the faculty adviser should have been trying to tamp down the conflict in this situation, not taking sides and making things worse.
But I disagree that refusing to let someone take a picture of you is ignoring the photographer’s basic First Amendment rights, even in public. There were other ways for the photographer to get photos other than by being confrontational.
chopper
@SenyoDave:
i didn’t know these protestors were representatives of the us government.
Gin & Tonic
@chopper: From what I can tell, one of them was an employee of the State of Missouri.
chopper
@Gin & Tonic:
okay, then that’s one guy.
so maybe the first amendment really isn’t the point here.
brantl
This should not be the linchpin that a university makes a decision about administrative staff depends, but, unfortunately, it is. Football should not matter this much at ANY university, but, sadly it does. I feel like I am living in a Kafka play. Not that I resent the support of the football players, just that they seem to have an outsized influence.
Mnemosyne (tablet)
@SenyoDave:
Quick unrelated PSA — right now, copying and pasting links is causing automatic moderation. No idea when it’s going to be fixed, but people should be aware that they should use the “a href” HTML coding or just expect to spend a short time in moderation.
Mnemosyne (tablet)
@SenyoDave:
Hmm. I admit, I don’t work for a college or university, but that sounds like it was due to a mistake or miscommunication:
So they did report it to all of the university officials in their chain of command, but didn’t realize they were supposed to make a separate report to the Title IX coordinator. It doesn’t sound like a Penn State situation where they were covering things up — they just didn’t realize they had to make an extra report themselves and that it wasn’t someone else in the department who was responsible for that.
Lamh36
@burnspbesq: nope. I’m suggesting there us a more important story here…
A guy
I’ve read of 3 incidents that precipitated this. Guy got called a nigger by some unknown individual. A swastika was smeared in feces on a dorm bathroom wall. Perpetrator unknown. The university was silent on the Michael brown incident. There may be more but those three incidents imo hardly merit mentioning let alone the demand for the presidents job. Moreover, what exactly did the students want the school to do about any of those. Say “don’t do that again’
Lamh36
@Lamh36: ugh…should da stuck to my previous decision to discuss the students efforts and not join in the distraction storyline
I apologize
MomSense
@Lamh36:
I think this conflict between student journalist and student protesters is being overblown so that it overshadows the work that the movement is doing to get accountability and change from the administration. The football team successfully leveraged their significant financial position and this must terrify a lot of other universities.
patroclus
@A guy: What triggered the hunger strike by Jonathan Butler was when the protestors tried to get the attention of Tim Wolfe at the MU Homecoming Parade by temporarily blocking his limousine, he instructed his driver to rev the engine and instructed the police to move them out of his way – allegedly, the car then struck Butler. Basically, he showed no interest in even listening to them and treated them like sub-humans. Three weeks went by and there was still no contact, no apology, no meetings… Then, when he finally did meet them (after they had to drive to KC to do so), he was similarly indifferent. But you can believe what you wish…
patroclus
@MomSense: Indeed. It reminds me of the letter that the ministers sent to MLK while he was in the Birmingham jail to which he responded with one of the all-time great letters of the 20th century. The ministers weren’t wrong – MLK could have proceeded more moderately and some of his allies did make some mistakes in dealing with the media, but there was a bigger picture at stake.
More recently, this reminds me of the protestors at Gallaudet 20 years or so ago, who thought that their CEO should be hearing-impaired (like them) so that the admin would be more sensitive to their concerns. They – too – wanted the then President to resign and ultimately got their wish. I’m sure some media members were disappointed with how the protestors treated them there too.
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
@patroclus:
Frankly, it sounds like this guy was totally unqualified to be a university president. Not to be a snob, but a university is not a business, and you need to have more than a BA to be I charge of one. Even community college presidents usually have at least a master’s degree, and usually a PhD or EdD.
MomSense
@patroclus:
I read an analysis of Wolfe’s resignation speech at WaPo (really!) and they compared a section of it to the letter the Ministers sent to MLK.
A guy
The guy who did the hunger Strike was in his 8th year at the school. Must have been so intolerable at the school he stayed that long. And the school is so full of racism and homophobia the student body elected a gay black guy. And michael Sam hated the place so much he came back for further studies after he failed to make an nfl squad. But for the genuine ability of everybody to be weak this is all bullshit.
patroclus
@A guy: Kudos for ignoring my earlier response to you! It only became intolerable to Jonathan Butler when he (allegedly) got hit by the Prez’s car at the Homecoming Parade, which occurred about 4 weeks ago, not during his 7 year experience at MU. And the incidents included the Student Body President getting name-called only after his election, so it’s possible that he considered the situation difficult only upon that occurrence. And, as discussed (and ignored by you), Michael Sam loved his experience there because of the support shown by Coach Pinkel. But for ignoring each of those points, you’re spot on!
SenyorDave
@Mnemosyne (tablet): You really should watch the ESPN show on this (its on Youtube) called “Outside the Lines”. Sounds like some major CYA going on. BTW, a female swimmer who claimed she was sexually assaulted by three football players committed suicide.
Aside from that, Pinkel not knowing about his responsibilities – kind of a major oversight. The buck stops with him. Try a search of assault, Missouri football, Dixon and Washington. You might wonder what in hell were these guys doing on the UM football team?
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
@SenyorDave:
Just from that one article, there definitely seems to be a problem at Mizzou since one of the female soccer players says that her coach threatened to have her scholarship rescinded if she reported the rape. I’m just not sure that the problem originates with Pinkel. That soccer coach should definitely have been fired.
ecks
@burnspbesq: Heh… Missouri is torn on the confederacy front. Even in the actual civil war it couldn’t really decide which side it wanted to be on, and fought its own intense battle over which side. In electoral politics it’s a swing state. St. Louis is solidly blue, the rural parts are shades of Alabama, swings in turnout drive the W column. The county Columbia MO is in split, for instance, nearly exactly 50/50 between bush and gore in that election (it’s situated out in the country, but college towns are generally more liberal than you would expect from the surrounding areas)..