University of Missouri’s President Tim Wolfe says “change is needed” regarding university racial discrimination. Long-simmering protests at the University of Missouri over matters of race and discrimination got a boost over the weekend when at least 30 black football players announced they will not participate in team activities until the university system’s president is removed. For months, black student groups complained of racial slurs and other slights on the overwhelmingly white, 35,000-student flagship campus of the four-college system. Frustrations flared during a homecoming parade on Oct. 10th when black protesters blocked Wolfe’s car because he refused get out of his car and talk to them.
On Saturday night, black members of the football team joined the outcry. By Sunday, a campus sit-in had grown in size, graduate student groups planned walk outs, politicians began to weigh in, and a special meeting of the university system’s governing body was set for Monday morning in Columbia. Wolfe hasn’t indicated that he has any intention of stepping down, but said the university is working to draw up a plan by April to promote diversity and tolerance.