University of Missouri police said Wednesday they have arrested a suspect accused of making online threats against black students and faculty, after racial tensions on campus resulted in the departure of two senior university officials.
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Rumors swirled on social media Tuesday night after anonymous threats were posted on social media app Yik Yak. In the other case, a student at Northwest State University in Maryville was arrested Wednesday morning for allegedly posting, “I’m gonna shoot any black people tomorrow, so be ready”. Those threats sparked panic across the college campus and caused many students to avoid attending class on Wednesday.
Elizabeth Loutfi/REUTERS Members of Concerned Student 1950 join hands at a press conference at Traditions Plaza at Carnahan Quad on the University of Missouri campus on Monday.
Head later apologized for the post, saying he was “sorry about the misinformation that I have shared through social media”.
According to a statement later released by campus police, the suspect, 19-year-old Hunter Park, was arrested in Rolla, Missouri, for “making a terrorist threat”.
Police said the suspect wasn’t “on or near the MU campus at the time of the threat”.
They took turns reciting points in history where MU students had endured discrimination – all the way up to September 2015 when Missouri Students Association President Payton Head was called the n-word when walking near campus.
“I never had ill will toward her and I felt bad when I heard she’d been getting threats”, he said.
On Tuesday, anonymous messages were posted on Yik Yak and tagged “Columbia”, the city where the university is located.
David Mitchell got ready to come to campus at the University of Missouri to teach on Wednesday morning, his wife pleaded with him to cancel his class.
“With University of Missouri’s president stepping down, we demand Rochon do the same as it is vital to fight against both covert and overt racism in all places of education and empowerment”, the group said on a Facebook event page it created, where 500 students confirmed their attendance.
Campus police Capt. Brian Weimer tells The Associated Press additional officers are on campus.
Students have been protesting the schools’ handling of racial issues on campus.
“I’m afraid for my peers”, she said.
Associate Dean Chuck Henson, a black law professor at Mizzou, has been appointed the first interim vice-chancellor for inclusion, diversity, and equity. While it would be an exaggeration to attribute Wolfe’s resignation – and that of the Columbia campus’s chancellor, R. Bowen Loftin, which will be at the end of the year – largely to the players’ actions (as a few have), their strike certainly helped tipped the scales.
Following Wolfe’s resignation, those participating in the Mizzou protests gathered to celebrate their victory when Melissa Click was caught on video yelling at a student journalist to “back up” and asking him to leave campus.
Months of protests culminated in a tumultuous week on the Columbia campus.
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The university system’s governing body, the Board of Curators, also announced a number of other initiatives, including more support for the hiring and retention of diverse faculty and staff and a full review of all policies related to staff and student conduct. Students took action, which led to the announcement Monday that the university system’s president and the campus chancellor would resign – as well as the promise of even more changes.
