The University of Missouri’s president, Tim Wolfe, stepped down earlier this week amid criticism that he did not properly handle racial situations that occurred on campus.
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A wave of student protests took over campuses nationwide on Thursday in support of University of Missouri student activists, many organized under the banner #standwithmizzou.
Middleton, 68, has spent 30 years at the university – as an undergraduate, law student, faculty member and, now, administrator.
“We must embrace these issues as they come, and they will come to define us in the future”. Since his retirement, he worked part-time with the campus’ former chancellor, R. Bowen Loftin, on a plan to increase inclusion and diversity at the school.
“Given the recent turmoil, Deputy Chancellor Emeritus Middleton is a strong transitional figure”, the group wrote in a letter of endorsement posted on its Facebook page and sent to curators.
The message comes in the wake of the unrest at the University of Missouri this week and after a forum that Gray-Little moderated on Wednesday, where a group calling itself Rock Chalk Invisible Hawk presented its demands.
MU Policy Now, a student group made up of graduate and professional students, had been pushing for Middleton’s appointment.
Organizers encouraged students to wear black, even if they can’t attend. Beginning in 1997 he served as the Interim Vice Provost for Minority Affairs and Faculty Development for the University of Missouri.
In that role, he was credited with turning women’s studies and black studies programs into their own departments.
Police said Park’s threats had circulated on social media, including a messaging app called Yik Yak.
Interim University of Missouri System President Michael Middleton speaks at his introductory press conference in University Hall Thursday, November 12, 2015, on the University of Missouri campus in Columbia, Mo. A man was arrested Thursday in connection to one of the threats.
“I know last year I witnessed a first year student walking through the mods and a person yell, hey come to my party Rosa Parks”, Senior James Kale II said. “In numbers and support, we can show what you’re going through is meaningful”. A University of Missouri police official said Park was not in possession of any weapons. Speaking to the crowd, she told them she had been sexually assaulted by a fellow law school student, who was also black, and that the school told her to wait 3 weeks before reporting it. He said he asked if the threats amounted to “saber rattling”, and Park responded, “pretty much”. The same user also wrote: “Some of you are alright. Don’t go to campus tomorrow”, said the post.
Sheryce Holloway is exhausted of white people at Virginia Commonwealth University asking if they can touch her hair or if she knows the latest dance move.
He added: “I sympathize with white people who don’t understand”.
Authorities also are investigating another threat on Yik Yak, this one leveled at the Rolla campus by someone saying, “I’m gonna shoot up this school”.
The success of Concerned Student 1950 has prompted demonstrations at other campuses around the country, including at USC and UCLA on Thursday.
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So tonight’s game is on, and many at the school are trying to put the past week behind them.
