November 9, 2015, NEW YORK CITY University of Missouri’s (MU) president, Tim Wolfe, has resigned in the midst of students protesting his failure to resolve racial conflict on campus. Students assembled as a group called the “Concerned Student 1950,” and one graduate student, Jonathan Butler, pursued a hunger strike until Wolfe was terminated from his post. During the weekend, African American players from the Tigers football team joined the fight by boycotting game activities.
In a statement published in the New York Times, Wolfe addresses his resignation.
“It is my belief we stopped listening to each other,” he says. “We have to respect each other enough to stop yelling at each other and start listening, and quit intimidating each other,” he adds, “I take full responsibility for this frustration and for the inaction that has occurred.”
Although racism at MU has existed for a while, the incident that caused collective action came after a swastika etched in human feces was hurled at a new dormitory wall.