Several racially controversial events at University of Missouri, located in Columbia, Missouri, throughout the past few months have led to protests from the group called Concerned Student 1950, which have been urging for the resignation of university president Tim Wolfe. On Monday, Wolfe officially stepped down. Shortly after, Richard Loftin, the chancellor of the university, announced his resignation.
University of Missouri, nicknamed Mizzou, was founded in 1839 and currently has 35,411 students in attendance. Mizzou is in the Southeastern Conference, and their football team is known to be very competitive each year.
The group “Concerned Student 1950” refers to the year 1950 when the university went through an immense change. In 1950, the school began to admit African American students for the first year in Mizzou history. Concerned Student 1950 executed the protests which have drawn massive media attention to the school.
A large majority of the school eventually started supporting Concerned Student 1950. Notably, the entire football team announced they would restrain from competing until Wolfe resigned, which would have inhibited them from playing against the BYU Cougars Saturday, Nov. 14. Missouri football coach Gary Pinkel backed the team’s decision.
“The Mizzou Family stands as one. We are united. We are behind our players,” Pinkel said on social media last Sunday.
On the topic of social media, much of the protesting took place on outlets such as Twitter and Facebook. Concerned Students 1950 have a Twitter account with over 10,000 followers. The page informs followers of protests, which most definitely has played a large part in recent events.
In the past few years, the United States has seen several racially controversial events and protests. This includes the Ferguson, Missouri unrest and the Black Lives Matter protests. The situation at University of Missouri is the next occurrence to garner the entire nation’s attention.
The Mizzou protests proved to be extremely successful, with Wolfe and Loftin both resigning. The event has also influenced a number of colleges to participate in similar protests, including Loyola University in Chicago.
“A student run newspaper, The Black Tribune, organized a demonstration in solidarity with students of color in Mizzou and all campuses in general,” Maxim Belovol, a sophomore currently attending Loyola, who attended the protest said.
Many timelines have been created detailing the events that have taken place in Missouri, and continue to take place. The Maneater’s timeline highlights many key events of the fall semester.
“The recent events that have occurred on Mizzou’s campus are historic and require active involvement and engagement from students. Despite different viewpoints and perspectives, it is imperative that not only Mizzou students but young minds across the nation educate themselves on the issues at hand in the hopes of creating institutions based on the principles of equality and understanding,” a student at Mizzou who wishes to remain anonymous said.
University of Missouri named Michael Middleton, who had worked at the school for 30 years, interim president on Thursday. Concerned Students 1950 publicly endorsed Middleton on social media.
