What University of Missouri shows us about student activism
After years of being characterized as cynical and apathetic, are students getting their political clout back?
Concerned Student 1950, led by University of Missouri graduate student Jonathan Butler, second from right, speaks following the announcement that University of Missouri System President Tim Wolfe would resign Monday, Nov. 9, 2015, in Columbia, Mo. Wolfe resigned Monday with the football team and others on campus in open revolt over his handling of racial tensions at the school.
Sarah Bell/Missourian/AP
University of Missouri President Tim Wolfe announced his resignation on Monday in an emotionally charged speech that brought to life the deep tensions between conservative and liberal views on race.聽
鈥淭he question is: why did we get to this really difficult situation? It鈥檚 my belief that we stopped listening to each other. We got frustrated with each other and we forced individuals like Jonathan Butler to ,鈥� Mr. Wolfe said in his speech. 鈥淭his is not, I repeat, not the way change should come about. Change comes from listening, learning, caring, and conversation. We have to respect each other enough to stop yelling at each other and start listening. Unfortunately, this has not happened.鈥澛�
Wolfe鈥檚 resignation is a major move for the 35,000 students at the University of Missouri 鈥� seven percent of which are African American 鈥� and not just because it signifies a deep-seeded racial problem that is plaguing America. It signifies what seems to be a revival era for student activists.
Or, at least, the first time students 鈥�.鈥澛�
Student activism on college campuses has been ongoing , when students marched in protest against the Vietnam War. In the 1980s, students protested over the and ; in the 1990s, and . Many in the media the millennial generation for their political apathy, 鈥溾�� and
But the Missouri case has highlighted an important shift in student activism 鈥� students are not only still protesting, but the protests are affecting change. And it comes at a time when activism is, if anything, taking on new forms of life.聽
The movement against racial discrimination at the University of Missouri has been ongoing for weeks. Jonathan Butler, a graduate student, went on a in the hopes that Wolfe would resign for his inaction against the 鈥渞acist, sexist, homophobic, etc., incidents that have .鈥� But historically, rarely have student athletes been involved in student activism until the University of Missouri鈥檚 football team inserted itself into the conversation.聽
海角大神's Jessica Mendoza writes,聽
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.
The Missouri protest comes at the same time as students at Yale University over appropriate Halloween costumes 鈥� students are accusing the administration of not being sensitive enough to concerns over culturally insensitive costumes. This is following a recent controversy where a male fraternity was accused of .