University of Missouri president resigns amid protests
University of Missouri System President Tim Wolfe announced his resignation on Monday, days after players on his school’s football team threatened to not play over racial strife on campus.
“To my friends and my supporters that have been so gracious and have sent so many emails and texts and calls of support, I understand that you might be frustrated as well,” Wolfe said during a press conference carried by CBSN.
{mosads}”So the question really is, why did we get to this very difficult situation? It is my belief we stopped listening to each other. We didn’t respond or react.”
Pressure had been mounting on Wolfe.
Black students groups have complained for months about racial slurs and other slights at the majority white school, and black members of the football team announced over the weekend they wouldn’t be involved in team activities until Wolfe was out, The Associated Press reported.
Earlier Monday, the Missouri Students Association called for him to step down, according to the Kansas City Star.
Hours after Wolfe’s resignation, the head of the university’s main campus in Columbia, Chancellor R. Bowen Loftin, announced he would step down at the end of the year and move into a new role in research at the school, according to the Board of Curators, the university’s governing body.
Rep. Lacy Clay (D-Mo.) said Monday that he had spoken with Wolfe over the past day and expressed “grave concerns regarding the repeated incidents of racial and religious intolerance at Mizzou.”
Clay also called for the school to “honestly address the painful history of racism” on campus.
“Mizzou belongs to all of us, and we need to work together to transform an atmosphere of intolerance into a culture of inclusion,” he said in a statement.
Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) and others have pointed to severity of the issues on campus as rising to the level of Wolfe, referencing the “systematic racism” at the school.
“I don’t believe the president is in the dark at this point about how bad things are,” McCaskill said of Wolfe during an interview on CNN’s “New Day” earlier Monday.
“I believe that the University is going to change the page today,” she added.
This story was updated at 6:47 p.m.
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