University of Missouri president resigns amid more student athlete activism
Walkouts and protests have been a part of campus life in America since at least the 1960s. But the unrest over racial slurs at the University of Missouri that led to the resignation of the president Monday featured 32 unusual activists 鈥� members of the football team.
The declaration of all of the team鈥檚 minority players this weekend that they would not take the field until President Timothy Wolfe stepped down may have tipped the balance, . It points to a growing trend toward activism by student athletes, who in the past have tended to stay on the sidelines when it came to issues of social justice. And it comes amid a year of protests and national debate over race relations that some have likened to a new civil rights era.
鈥淐ampuses, among other spaces, have always been sites for discussing structures of oppression鈥�. What鈥檚 different about Mizzou is that protests almost exclusively come from social justice groups. It was interesting the way athletics leveraged their power,鈥� says Jennifer Stollman, academic director at the University of Mississippi鈥檚 William Winter Institute for Racial Reconciliation.
Last fall, Oklahoma football players skipped practice to demand punishment of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity for a racist chant caught on video. Also in 2014, for the first time in history, college football players at Northwestern University sought to unionize. (Their bid was denied by the National Labor Relations Board in August.)
鈥淚f there is one large takeaway from all that has gone on at Mizzou in the past few days, it鈥檚 that student-athletes, and football players in particular, are no longer just names and numbers,鈥� the online sports website . 鈥淭hey are a powerful group that is just scratching the surface on their potential for societal change聽inside and outside their university communities. More to the point, players are now combining that power with an unfiltered medium in social media.鈥�
President Wolfe鈥檚 decision to resign came amid criticisms over what campus groups called his inadequate response to racial harassment and concerns of minority students in the school.
鈥淚t is my belief we stopped listening to each other. We have to respect each other enough to stop yelling at each other and start listening, and quit intimidating each other,鈥� Wolfe said Monday. 鈥淚 stand before you today and I take full responsibility for this frustration. And I take full responsibility for the inaction that has occurred.鈥�
Students and faculty had staged a walkout to protest Wolfe鈥檚 response to that occurred on campus over the last few months, including the harassment of black students with racial slurs and a swastika drawn with feces on a dormitory bathroom.
When black protesters tried to get Wolfe鈥檚 attention during a homecoming parade Oct. 10, he would not get out of his car, . On Nov. 2, graduate student Jonathan Butler began a hunger strike that he said would not end until Wolfe stepped down.
The situation gained nationwide attention Saturday, when more than 30 members of the school鈥檚 football team, including several stars, announced they would boycott all football-related activities until Wolfe resigned. On Sunday, Missouri football coach Gary Pinkel canceled practice and took to Twitter to announce his support for the players鈥� call for change.
The move put more pressure on Wolfe, who suddenly had a $1 million penalty on the line for Missouri if the school did not play its scheduled game against Brigham Young University on Nov. 14.
鈥淭hat the athletic department stood behind its students is astounding,鈥� says Professor Stollman. 鈥淚t was a constellation of many forces and voices coming together. It was a marshaling of academics, student affairs, and athletics. All these entities 鈥� have tremendous power.鈥�
Not everyone was praising Wolfe鈥檚 decision to resign. In an editorial, the National Review called Monday鈥檚 announcement 鈥渁n extraordinary act of cowardice by the university.鈥�
鈥淸T]he University of Missouri is not besieged by the Ku Klux Klan. It is besieged by hysteria,鈥� . 鈥淗ysteria needs to be stood up to, not cravenly fed with acquiescence.鈥�
The events at the University of Missouri carry the weight of recent racial conflicts in nearby Ferguson, where the death of Michael Brown last year became a flashpoint for racial discourse across the country.
鈥淭hey are giving us a heads up that they are not going to tolerate [inequity],鈥� Garrett Duncan, an associate professor of education and African-American studies at Washington University in St. Louis, says of student activists today.
Similar discussions around race are occurring in college campuses elsewhere, some experts note, and university leaders are wrestling daily to balance a welcoming and productive learning environment with the free exchange of ideas.
At the University of Mississippi, administrators furled the Confederate-themed state flag and moved it from campus earlier this month, after students, faculty, and staff called for its removal in the wake of debate around the Confederacy鈥檚 role in US history.
Yale University President Peter Salovey on Thursday following a debate over how the administration handled concerns about Halloween costumes considered culturally offensive, and accusations that a fraternity had denied a black student entrance to a 鈥渨hite girls only鈥� party on the basis of her race. (The fraternity has since denied the allegations, .)
鈥淚t鈥檚 not the first time we see these sorts of issues emerge,鈥� says Terry Hartle, senior vice president of the American Council on Education鈥檚 division of government and public affairs. 鈥淭he challenge for any campus leader is to act quickly, act empathetically, be driven by institutional values 鈥� and to get it right.鈥�
