The chancellor at the University of Missouri announced he will step down on Monday, just hours after the embattled president announced his departure under pressure over unchecked racism and harassment of Black students on campus, according to CNN.
Chancellor R. Bowen Loftin followed former president Tim Wolfe out the door on Monday. Loftin will begin a new role advancing research on campus on January 1. He gave high praise to graduate student Jonathan Butler, who went on a hunger strike last week in an effort to oust Wolfe. Butler ended the strike on Monday after Wolfe announced his resignation.
From CNN:
“I want to acknowledge his extraordinary courage and leadership,” Loftin said about Butler. “A very tough, tough young man, a very focused young man, a very intelligent and forward-looking young man, so we owe him a lot.”
Black students had complained about the administration’s failure to address racism on the overwhelmingly White campus in Columbia, Missouri, including racial slurs, displays of the Confederate flag, and graffiti written in excrement.
At the school’s homecoming parade last month, African-American students blocked Wolfe’s car in a protest calling for greater action on the part of administrators.
Chancellor Loftin ordered mandatory sensitivity training for faculty and students, but black students said the gestures were insufficient and called for school officials to implement broader cultural sensitivity training, increase minority staffing and take other steps.
Several organizations, including the football team, the student association, and faculty members called for Wolfe to step down.
We’re glad to see change at the school. It’s just too bad that it took a hunger strike and the threat of losing millions if the football team forfeited a game for the school to do the right thing.
But to echo Butler, this is just the beginning.
https://twitter.com/_JonathanButler/status/663758792992116736
SOURCE: CNN | PHOTO CREDIT: Getty
Mizzou Chancellor Steps Down Following President’s Resignation Over Campus Racism was originally published on newsone.com
