The irreverent, and nearly always politically incorrect, South Park, in one of their October episodes, mocked the current PC climate on American universities.
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Sadly, but unsurprisingly, Butler’s hunger strike received very little press coverage until the Mizzou football time boosted his efforts with a boycott.
Likewise, Brown ignored the withdrawn accusation by the black Mizzou student government president, Payton Head, that the KKK had been sighted on campus, which was found to be false.
The event was called by the newly formed Black Liberation Action Coalition, made up of the Multi-cultural Greeks, Black Student Union and the African Student Association with help from the local activist group Young Gifted and Black (YGB).
Meanwhile, John Cowan, a white 2014 University of Kansas graduate, began a hunger strike on campus Friday morning in solidarity with KU student group movements.
At the University of Missouri, there was a report of a swastika of human excrement on a wall in a lavatory.
As part of Loftin’s deal, written by Loftin and signed by Wolfe the day both men resigned, the university indemnifies Loftin against any lawsuits for his actions as chancellor and lets him and his wife stay in the chancellor’s residence for the next four months, with the university covering their eventual moving expenses. Wolfe issued an apology four days later, but students continued to demand his resignation. In a song titled, “In My Safe Place”, reality-dimension-challenged college students sang quixotically about their “safe place” where they don’t ever have to hear, see, or be confronted with anything that may challenge their biases and predispositions.
How has the movement spread? He said he’s tried to convey to administrators for a year that black students, disabled students and many others deal with discrimination regularly.
Concurrent protests at Yale University over alleged racial insensitivity on campus around Halloween were the next to go viral. The racial issues that precipitated the Mizzou protests, and many more incidents like that across the nation, make it hard to argue that racism is abating in any significant way in the US.
“As collegians, students of color and believers in justice, we are obliged to expose the systemic oppression and racial tensions that bleed across our campuses”, states Brooks in the letter. The resignations came after several African-American students complained of inaction by administration in dealing with racism on its predominately-white, Columbia campus. Hashtags such as #InSolidarityWithMizzou, #InSolidarityWithYale, #ConcernedStudent1950 and #BlackOnCampus now have thousands of results on Facebook and Twitter.
“Without knowing all the facts, I’ve read enough to know that there is clearly a problem at the University of Missouri, and that’s not just coming from students”, Obama told George Stephanopoulos. “Following the events at Mizzou, students from universities across the country were able to share their stories under many hashtags, including “#ConcernedStudent1950”.
Maher said he was willing to review the Black Studies program and consider the students concerns.
How have UC Berkeley students and faculty responded?
The University of Missouri said that social media posts saying that the Paris terror attacks diverted attention from campus protests are fakes.
Recent off-campus protest movements – in particular Black Lives Matter and, to a few extent, the Occupy movement – have changed the nature of black student organising on campuses. “It was great to see so many people come out to support something we haven’t fully experienced firsthand”.
However, many wonder will these student-led demonstrations will accomplish.
“He failed to do anything, and that itself is an act of racism”, she said.
Middleton, whose appointment as interim system president was announced Thursday, said he keeps a list of those original demands on his desk.
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At the moment, it seems, neither the University of Missouri nor its football team has much to be proud of. Now, she says, she fundraises online to pay her tuition. More protests are planned for this week. “Sometimes we lose a sense of reality while being in college, especially the group of us that live on campus”. “Changing and challenging the system is something that we have to look at more than changing the minds of people”.
