University of Missouri football takes a stand

 

                At the University of Missouri, there has been tremendous outrage over the countless reports of racial prejudice and intimidation on campus that has been a result of poor administrative punishment.  Despite multiple witnesses and accounts from African American students, these issues had been basically unsolved.  Issues such widespread use of racial slurs and intimidation to as unpredictable of Nazi swastikas written on walls.  Because of the lack of response from President Tim Wolfe, many students had become so frustrated that they felt that their only choice was to protest this issue.  One of the most famous protesters was graduate student Johnathan butler who went on a hunger strike until the issues had been resolved or the president stepped down.  The most eye opening part of this interaction is that the administration remained unaffected because of these incidents.  It was only when the University of Missouri’s football team united and began protesting that any real action came of this issue.  Protesting practice, and making their presence known on campus, they ultimately brought national media attention and put pressure on the administration because the strong Alumni base.  As a result of this newfound pressure, Tim Wolfe would resign as the president of Missouri.  However, in my opinion, I do not believe that Tim Wolfe would have resigned if not for the external push caused by the football team.  This raises several questions; why would the administration not act in accordance to what was in the student’s best interest?  More specifically, why did the administration not make any substantial changes due to the intense racial climate?  What is even more shocking is that reported offenders on campus were left unpunished and undisciplined which made it okay for these events to continue to occur.  While it is seemingly impossible to completely eradicate racial prejudice within schools as it is impossible to police, major violations that were overt and threatening should have had some sort of consequence.  It is very interesting to think what the administration thought of these accusations on campus due to the repetitive nature of these occurrence’s.  Does it really take the support of the football team to make changes on campus? A college campus should never get to the point where students are actually scared to go to class.  However, I will be curious to see if these problems still occur under the new president, as racism was prevalent at UM long before the tenure of ex-president Tim Wolfe.