After mishandling several racially charged incidents, students and faculty have called for a walkout of classes on Monday and Tuesday, November 9 and 10.
Black student groups have criticized President Tim Wolfe’s handling of racism on campus, causing a slew of protests to breakout. A black graduate student initially went on a hunger strike last week to draw awareness of the racial issues, which the football team joined the movement over the weekend. Their coach backed them on the decision.
Protests first started after the student government president said that a group of people in a passing pickup truck screamed racial slurs at him back in September. This escalated in early October, when members of a black student organization said slurs were shouted at them by a drunk white student. Shortly after a swastika was drawn in a dormitory bathroom with human feces.
Since protests have started on the predominantly white campus, students have endured more intimidating racial gestures, including a drive-by on Sunday by two trucks waving the Confederate flag.
According to NBC News,
Wolfe’s refusal to step down — saying in a statement Sunday he was “dedicated to ongoing dialogue — prompted two “outraged” graduate student organizations to call for a walk out to “stand in solidarity against systematic inequality.”
“This step has not been taken lightly. We have chosen to do so because we believe an injury to any member of the campus community is an injury to all,” the Sterling Committee of the Forum on Graduate Rights and Coalition of Graduate Workers said in a statement shared online.
The walkout has now been backed by various faculty:
History Department’s Statement in Support of Mizzou Students pic.twitter.com/k9BssUYj8I
— History at Mizzou (@HistoryatMizzou) November 9, 2015
The Missouri Students Association have already released a letter calling for Wolfe to be removed:
We are publicly releasing our letter to the University of Missouri System Board of Curators. @umsystem @umcurators pic.twitter.com/CqsWMAZVwK
— M.S.A. (@MSAmizzou) November 9, 2015
The Legion of Black Collegians and other students (including football players) also made a list of demands before returning the campus back to its rightful form:
The university’s Board of Curators announced late Sunday that it would meet Monday at 10 a.m., and protesters continue to have a wide variety of support.
If you don’t stand for something you’ll fall for anything. #ConcernedStudent1950 pic.twitter.com/Z0fZGn0bgj
— Slick Rick (@RickeyLamarHatl) November 8, 2015
Approx. 100 faculty & grad students from Edu Dept just arrived to support #MizzouHungerStrike pic.twitter.com/fJ87SHc07b
— Casey Nolen KSDK (@CaseyNolen) November 9, 2015
We stand with you, Mizzou.