COLUMBIA, Mo. — The University of Missouri system's president, Tim Wolfe, resigned Monday morning in the face of growing protests by Afr...
University of Missouri students, athletes, and even some faculty are seeking the resignation of university systen president Tim Wolfe, who has been criticized for a perceived lack of response to racial incidents on campus. VPC
Wolfe made the stunning announcement at the start of a special Board of Curators meeting Monday morning to address the growing crisis at the Show Me state's flagship university. The board voted in favor of accepting his resignation.
“I am resigning as president of the University Missouri system,” said Wolfe, who choked up as he announced he was stepping down. “My motivation in making this decision comes from a love of Columbia where I grew up and the state of Missouri. I thought and prayed over this decision. It is the right thing to do … The frustration and anger I see is real, and I don’t doubt it for a second.”
The situation had become so emotional on campus, the first land-grant university west of the Mississippi, that many members of the football team had even announced they would boycott team activities. After Wolfe's announcement, the university's athletic department said in a statement that the football team would return to the practice field Tuesday to prepare for its game on Saturday against BYU.
Before Wolfe's resignation, a faculty group issued a statement announcing plans for a walkout.
“I take full responsibility for what has occurred," Wolfe said.
In a Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2015 photo, University of Missouri President Tim Wolfe walks away after speaking to members of Concerned Student 1950 Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2015 outside University Hall on the University of Missouri campus in Columbia, Mo. Wolfe resigned Monday, Nov. 9, 2015, amid criticism of handling of racial issues. (Photo: Daniel Brenner, AP)
Students complaining about a racially fraught campus environment began protests at the university on Sept. 24, but the tense situation on campus had only recently begun to gain national attention.
More than 30 members of Missouri's football team announced Saturday that they would no longer take part in football-related activities while Wolfe was in power.
The football players joined the protest after graduate student Jonathan Butler began a hunger strike one week ago. Butler said the strike would either end with Wolfe leaving his post or Butler dying.
"The primary concerns of our student-athletes, coaches and staff has been centered on the health of Jonathan Butler and working with student leaders to find a resolution that would save a life," Missouri football coach Gary Pinkel and athletic director Mack Rhoades said in a statement. "We are hopeful we can begin a process of healing and understanding on our campus."
After Wolfe's announcement, Butler took to Twitter to announce that his hunger strike was over.
"This is only the first step! More change is to come!!" Butler posted on his Twitter account.
On Monday, before Wolfe announced his resignation, the undergraduate student government called for Wolfe's ouster.
"As the Executive Cabinet of the undergraduate student government, representing the 27,000 undergraduates at the University of Missouri's flagship institution, we formally demand the immediate removal of the UM System President Tim Wolfe," the student association wrote in a letter to the Board of Curators, which oversees the University of Missouri's four statewide campuses.
Missouri football players react to school president's resignation on Twitter
The Concerned Faculty group said late Sunday night that faculty members would stage a "teach in" at Carnahan Quadrangle, the epicenter of a protests.
Students pointed to several recent events on campus that underscore a hostile environment for black students.
Student government president Payton Head, who is black, said in September that people in a passing pickup shouted racial slurs at him. In early October, members of a black student organization said slurs were hurled at them by an apparently drunken white student. In addition, a swastika drawn in feces was found recently in a dormitory bathroom.
Missouri football team's boycott succeeds, as president Tim Wolfe resigns
Many of the protests have been led by an organization called Concerned Student 1950, which gets its name from the year the university accepted its first black student.
“Tim Wolfe’s resignation was a necessary step toward healing and reconciliation on the University of Missouri campus, and I appreciate his decision to do so,” Gov.Jay Nixon said in a statement. “There is more work to do, and now the University of Missouri must move forward – united by a commitment to excellence, and respect and tolerance for all.
The movement comes more than a year after a white police officer in Ferguson, Mo., shot and killed Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager, spurring a national protest. The St. Louis suburb is about 120 miles from the Columbia campus.
In their letter on Monday, student government leaders pointed to the university officials "silence" in the aftermath of Ferguson as exacerbating tensions on campus.
"In August 2014, the University of Missouri met the shooting of Michael Brown with silence," the student government leaders said in their letter. "In the following months, our students were left stranded, forced to face an increase in tension and inequality with no systemic support. Over the last 16 months, the quality of life for our students has only worsened."
Wolfe, who earned his bachelors degree from the university's flagship campus and spent most of his childhood in Columbia, said he was crestfallen by what had transpired. He pinned the blame squarely on himself for letting the situation on campus to get out of hand, while acknowledging a break-down in communication with students on campus.
"Why did we get to this very difficult situation? " Wolfe said. "It is my belief we stopped listening to each other."
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