This whole University of Missouri thing...

So some guys in my office were watching Sportscenter (barf) and all the presenters kept talking about was the University of Missouri football team boycotting the games until the President of the University stepped down and some graduate student on a hunger strike.

Naturally I did a little research and I'm still a bit confused about what the whole thing is about.

The black student union president had some racial slurs yelled at him from some idiots in a pickup truck.
A swastika drawn in feces was found drawn on a dorm floor.
10 black students blocked the presidents car at the homecoming parade and he, probably rightfully, refused to talk to them.
Graduate student goes on hunger strike.
Football team refuses to play thus depriving the university of a bunch of money if they miss a game. It sounds like the president was given something as incentive to keep that lucrative football money flowing and stepped down.

So I'm a little confused here. Institutional racism is being bandied about but I'm not hearing or reading much about other incidents besides the white president not giving into the demands to step down. So unless there's something I'm missing it sounds like someone filed a butthurt report in proximity of Ferguson MO, are pissed off about it being ignored, and the social justice warriors took up an convenient cause.

Can anyone explain a little further for me or am I just being a jaded shiny happy person?

I live in Columbia and not 100 percent sure what happened either, however, I do know that this guy has had lots of other controversial stuff happen under his tenure.

Like 6 months ago MU tried removing grad students insurance that had already been promised to them and his generally E36 M3ty handling of a variety of situations is being capped off by the lack of any action in the recent racism on campus.

I think it is a straw and camel situation.

Well, I just hit Google news to figure out what was going on and the top story is that he has resigned.

Not sure what that's going to do, however. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out.

-Rob

one report about it

Someone on the radio had the same question, which is effectively "how does this help"?

Obviously, it really doesn't solve anything, but maybe it's a indication (warning?) that they are taking it seriously, and if you don't take it seriously, you will be asked to leave. (He said he stepped down, but was he encouraged?)

It's got to be a pretty interesting dynamic there. I believe it is something like: 14% of Alabama population is black, 7% of the students are black and I wonder what percentage of those are primarily there for the football / athletics teams? There are clearly some people in Alabama that are a bit "old school" if you know what I mean, and I am sure some have children that go to school.

Sounds like a lot of people are shiny happy people.

I knew as soon as Pinkle got behind it that Wolfe was going to leave, either by choice or forcefully. MU football is top priority, much to my (two time grad) dismay.

In reply to aircooled:

Alabama? I don't follow.

In reply to aircooled:

Are you saying that the university of Missouri is in Alabama???

Toyman01 wrote: Sounds like a lot of people are shiny happy people.

That's kind of where I'm at. You see and hear all sorts of stupid E36 M3 on college campuses and it's difficult to control who comes and goes through the parking lots of schools, especially during football games. I'm not seeing incidents of violence, denial of admissions, ineligibility to play based on race, grade manipulation, massive differences in scholarship awards, or open KKK movements sponsored by the college.

I'm seeing a couple verbal incidents by some morons spouting venomous ignorance and someone who likes to play with poop. That's hardly institutionalized racism.

In reply to singleslammer: I figured there was more to the story but no one seems to be reporting any of that. The racism angle draws more eyeballs I can only surmise.

Nick (Not-Stig) Comstock wrote: In reply to aircooled: Are you saying that the university of Missouri is in Alabama???

Why yes, yes it is. Dem southern types urnt to bright like us northerners (westerners.. whatever). Wez no eberythin.

Doh!

(change Alabama to Missouri, I will leave it up there since it's so stupid)

singleslammer wrote: I knew as soon as Pinkle got behind it that Wolfe was going to leave, either by choice or forcefully. MU football is top priority, much to my (two time grad) dismay. In reply to aircooled: Alabama? I don't follow.

I've heard (dunno if it's true) that Gary Pinkel (HC for Mizzou FB) is the highest paid state employee in MO. That sorta settles who wins the situation with the University President, dunnit?

Seems to me the issue was more the lack of any comment from the president. Or poorly done comments.

Had he done something, anything, when things happened, I suspect the protest would not have gotten this far.

alfadriver wrote: Seems to me the issue was more the lack of any comment from the president. Or poorly done comments. Had he done something, anything, when things happened, I suspect the protest would not have gotten this far.

Agreed, but also if I put myself in his place, when a small thing happens, I might think the best is to not say much about it because talking about it gives it credibility and attention.

No, I would not want to make a statement about one of my students getting so drunk they draw a swastica with poop. You already did one stupid thing kid, I'm not going to put you on TV for it and let you expand your dumb thoughts to an exponentially large audience.

However, something would be done about it under my watch, I'm just saying I can see the logic to not make a big public statement part of the reaction plan. (Which you of course hint at).

In reply to Robbie:

The problem with doing nothing is that you then need to draw a line when you need to address it. As if being a jackass is ok in small doses, but not large ones. When, in fact, it's never ok.

It's so easy to condemn the message without being specific.

I've seen on one sports message board that the protesting squashed the free speech of the one group. Maybe. But a college campus is there to promote thought, and using methods to squash thought from specific groups is worse than stopping people and their insulting of people.

One of the people who yelled slurs was dismissed. I don't know how you do something about a truck full of rednecks unless they are students or employees. I don't think they don't have a clue who did the scat swastika.

In reply to spitfirebill:

Yea, they shouldn't have cameras in the dorm bathrooms.......well, the men's bathroom at least.

I see this as a missed opportunity to do some good out of the whole situation......if he could have held out a month, just imagine the new lease on life he'd have given that hunger striking grad student(kid weighed over 300lbs)......

I guess the $64K question is ... is this an isolated incident, or could it spread to other college/university sports programs and then on to pro sports? If there's a conspiracy behind this movement, it seems like that could be the ultimate objective. Financial crisis in American sports.

I wish their graduate student protests over nixxed insurance got someone fired. Their student body at least knows now it can protest and get quite a few things. It's too bad that the football team is the only voice that necessarily matters though...

The0retical wrote: So some guys in my office were watching Sportscenter (barf) and all the presenters kept talking about was the University of Missouri football team boycotting the games until the President of the University stepped down and some graduate student on a hunger strike. Naturally I did a little research and I'm still a bit confused about what the whole thing is about. The black student union president had some racial slurs yelled at him from some idiots in a pickup truck. A swastika drawn in feces was found drawn on a dorm floor. 10 black students blocked the presidents car at the homecoming parade and he, probably rightfully, refused to talk to them. Graduate student goes on hunger strike. Football team refuses to play thus depriving the university of a bunch of money if they miss a game. It sounds like the president was given something as incentive to keep that lucrative football money flowing and stepped down. So I'm a little confused here. Institutional racism is being bandied about but I'm not hearing or reading much about other incidents besides the white president not giving into the demands to step down. So unless there's something I'm missing it sounds like someone filed a butthurt report in proximity of Ferguson MO, are pissed off about it being ignored, and the social justice warriors took up an convenient cause. Can anyone explain a little further for me or am I just being a jaded shiny happy person?

it's a bit more involved than you're making it out to be … the racial problems on campus have been an ongoing problem for a good little while now ( the fired/resigned) pres. admitted that

he had been approached on multiple occasions to come up with work arounds, potential solutions .. attitude resounded with a shrug …

eventually the students AND the faculty said they had had enough … (hint: the faculty was on the way out also) … the only ones with any real leverage were the football team … by forfeiting the upcoming game, UM would be on the hook for over $1,000,000 … suddenly the problem became a ACTUAL problem …and the board of regents (whatever their particular version of this is) decided that maybe something needed to be done

keep in mind that it wasn't only the football team .. how often do you ever hear of the faculty at a university siding with the athletes ?

they have a real problem at that particular school … more of one than at other schools ? I don't know ….

aircooled wrote: Someone on the radio had the same question, which is effectively "how does this help"? Obviously, it really doesn't solve anything, but maybe it's a indication (warning?) that they are taking it seriously, and if you don't take it seriously, you will be asked to leave. (He said he stepped down, but was he encouraged?) It's got to be a pretty interesting dynamic there. I believe it is something like: 14% of Alabama population is black, 7% of the students are black and I wonder what percentage of those are primarily there for the football / athletics teams? There are clearly some people in Alabama that are a bit "old school" if you know what I mean, and I am sure some have children that go to school.

I can't verify these figures … but the report I heard on one of the sports shows, was that the campus population overall was 8-9% AA … and the football team was 60+% AA

Kylini wrote: I wish their graduate student protests over nixxed insurance got someone fired. Their student body at least knows now it can protest and get quite a few things. It's too bad that the football team is the only voice that necessarily matters though...

is it that they are the only voice that matters ? or are they the only voice that has the clout to get someone to listen ?

In reply to wbjones:

Yes

Kylini wrote: I wish their graduate student protests over nixxed insurance got someone fired. Their student body at least knows now it can protest and get quite a few things. It's too bad that the football team is the only voice that necessarily matters though...

who should get fired? A student or an administrator?

Isn't racial hysteria an act of racism?

Or is it just politically correct to be politically correct and its politically correct to find something to be politically correct about?

Or is this all ripples in the pond caused by liberal bleeding heart media sensationalism?

WOW Really Paul? wrote: I see this as a missed opportunity to do some good out of the whole situation......if he could have held out a month, just imagine the new lease on life he'd have given that hunger striking grad student(kid weighed over 300lbs)......

Saw a pic of the guy on TV the other day and most of that 300lbs had to be muscle...he looked more like a football player than a cake aficionado to me.