The University of Missouri System named Michael Middleton, a retired, black university administrator, as its interim president Thursday amid recent protests over alleged racial injustices on campus.
Advertisement
“I have seen the system grow and excel over the years and I look with great optimism in the future”, said Middleton, who resigned in August as deputy chancellor of the system’s flagship campus in Columbia.
Students at a few campuses are protesting inhospitable treatment towards racial minorities, while others are calling for more diversity among faculty and more spending on minority-based scholarships and cultural centers. He was a trial attorney in the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice and in 1977 was appointed Assistant Deputy Director of the Office for Civil Rights at the Department of [Health, Education, and Welfare]. Chancellor Middleton as Interim President; however we are still pushing for shared governance.
The University of Missouri named a black interim president on Thursday after the incumbent was forced out amid an escalating race row, as a wave of protests spread to half a dozen United States campuses. He’ll replace Tim Wolfe, who stepped down Monday in response to a wave of protests that climaxed with a strike by the football team. And police at the Columbia campus say someone spray-painted over part of a sign early Thursday at the black culture centre.
Activists with the group Concerned Student 1950, an allusion to the year the university admitted its first black student, praised the appointment of Middleton, who had previously met with members. The university initially said Loftin would stay as chancellor until the end of the year.
On Monday, Wolfe announced his resignation effective when a replacement could take over the job.
In a statement, the University said it is “committed to protecting students’ privacy and doing all we can to insure that students feel comfortable accessing Columbia’s resources, which is why we do not comment on individual students cases while also protecting students’ right to free expression”.
Students at two of Missouri’s other state universities were arrested Wednesday, charged with threatening shooting rampages against black people through posts on the anonymous social media app Yik Yak.
“I am looking forward to working with interim President Middleton and the other system chancellors to continue to forward progress at the University of Missouri”. One of them, Hunter Park, appeared in court Thursday and was denied bond, local media reported. Experts also say schools should expect more social activism if they fail to take necessary actions to eliminate environments of hostility toward students of color.
And on Wednesday, university leadership released a statement in which they addressed violence and threats levied against black students on campus due to the ongoing turmoil.
Advertisement
One of the threats said: “Some of you are alright”. “It shows that if you have a few support behind it, you can get a few change”.
