[Kathy]

Opportunism is the key word. There is so much misinformation out there.

A bit of background on Mizzou & the UM system: Tim Wolfe is president of the University of Missouri system — four campuses with nearly 78,000 students, about 24,000 faculty and staff. Tack on the University of Missouri Health System and the Extension Service, and you have a picture of his range of responsibilities. Wolfe grew up in Columbia (the son of MU professors), was quarterback of the high school state championship football team, graduated with a business degree from MU. After a 30-year career in management at IBM and other computer software companies, he became president of the system 3½ years ago (he didn’t apply for the job — the curators came to him and asked if he would take it on). The system administration offices are in Columbia, which is also home to the flagship campus. Four chancellors report to Wolfe. The chancellor of the Columbia campus is R. Bowen Loftin (arrived here 1½ years ago in a lateral move from Texas A&M). The Columbia campus is the oldest and largest of the system — more than 35,000 students and 13,300 employees. It is the major economic engine that drives this city.

Now as to background on the current controversy: Contrary to numerous geographically challenged reports, Columbia is nowhere near Ferguson, the Missouri town where Michael Brown was shot in the summer of 2014. That’s a two-hour drive from here. No one at MU had anything to do with that incident or the subsequent riots. But just days later, the protesters were in Columbia and on campus. The focus of their ire is a moving target. They marched on campus and then down to the police station, and then over to City Hall where an extended screaming match took place. Then they turned on Loftin, marching to his house at 10:30 p.m. one night last March; the protesters were miffed he didn’t get out of bed and converse with them on his front lawn. The chancellor has since bent over backwards to placate these students for every imaginable slight they bring to his attention. But this chancellor has made a series of bad decisions in his brief time here and he’s busy trying to put out fires left and right — some ill-advised firings and even dumber hirings, Title IX problems, plus a slew of unrelated controversies with the health system, the medical school, graduate students, the unions … so the protesters set their sights on a bigger fish — the system president. They blocked Wolfe’s car during the Homecoming parade a few weeks ago — they claimed he didn’t answer their emails so they wanted to discuss their list of demands right then & there. Wolfe didn’t get out of his car and campus police hustled them off the parade route. He has since met with several groups to discuss their concerns. They aren’t satisfied. Last week, students began camping out on the Quad. They say they’re going to stay until Wolfe leaves. It looks a lot like the Occupy Wall Street encampment in front of City Hall from three years ago. I don’t know if they go to class. They get a lot of pizza delivered to those tents. One student is on a hunger strike. One. He is Jonathan Butler, a graduate student in education who has been a leader in the protests here since the Ferguson riots. Says he won’t eat until Wolfe leaves. Wolfe sent out a statement today that he’s not resigning.

The protesters keep decrying “systemic racism” here and refer to a vague series of racist events. There have been two publicized incidents this fall. The student body president, a black male named Payton Head, claims he was walking down a campus street when a pickup truck drove by. The possibly inebriated white men riding in the bed of the pickup allegedly yelled racist slurs at Head. He took to Facebook the next day to rant about it and the post went viral. Some parts of his story just don’t seem to ring true and no one else witnessed the incident — there are many who doubt it even happened; others have wondered if the insults were aimed at his sexual preference rather than his race. The next month, a drunken white male student jumped onto an outdoor stage while the Legion of Black Collegians were working on Homecoming preparations. He uttered “a racial slur and used hurtful language,” they say, as he stumbled away. The Office of Student Conduct “moved” the student from campus (the university’s wording) and no one knows what happened to him.

I’m sorry, but the Constitution does not guarantee you the right to not get your feelings hurt. And there is nothing in the MU student handbook that says the campus chancellor or the university president is to blame if someone insults you.

The curators are meeting in executive session Monday. Although they may be discussing personnel issues, my guess is they’re trying to figure out the legal consequences of the football team’s “boycott” — with the apparent support of the coach — and the impact on the game scheduled with BYU for next Saturday in Kansas City. If Mizzou backs out of the scheduled game, MU has to pay $1 million to BYU. I don’t know if there is any additional financial obligation to Arrowhead Stadium. We may find out this week if the tail wags the dog at Mizzou.

Curiously (and I say that with all the cynicism I can muster), all this started in the aftermath of the Ferguson riots in 2014, yet the football players did not choose to inject themselves into the movement last year — no mention of a boycott on their way to an SEC East championship run. This year, mired in mediocrity with one SEC win on their record, they’re ready to bail on the season. Curious … 

[Kathy]

Opportunism is the key word. There is so much misinformation out there.

A bit of background on Mizzou & the UM system: Tim Wolfe is president of the University of Missouri system — four campuses with nearly 78,000 students, about 24,000 faculty and staff. Tack on the University of Missouri Health System and the Extension Service, and you have a picture of his range of responsibilities. Wolfe grew up in Columbia (the son of MU professors), was quarterback of the high school state championship football team, graduated with a business degree from MU. After a 30-year career in management at IBM and other computer software companies, he became president of the system 3½ years ago (he didn’t apply for the job — the curators came to him and asked if he would take it on). The system administration offices are in Columbia, which is also home to the flagship campus. Four chancellors report to Wolfe. The chancellor of the Columbia campus is R. Bowen Loftin (arrived here 1½ years ago in a lateral move from Texas A&M). The Columbia campus is the oldest and largest of the system — more than 35,000 students and 13,300 employees. It is the major economic engine that drives this city.

Now as to background on the current controversy: Contrary to numerous geographically challenged reports, Columbia is nowhere near Ferguson, the Missouri town where Michael Brown was shot in the summer of 2014. That’s a two-hour drive from here. No one at MU had anything to do with that incident or the subsequent riots. But just days later, the protesters were in Columbia and on campus. The focus of their ire is a moving target. They marched on campus and then down to the police station, and then over to City Hall where an extended screaming match took place. Then they turned on Loftin, marching to his house at 10:30 p.m. one night last March; the protesters were miffed he didn’t get out of bed and converse with them on his front lawn. The chancellor has since bent over backwards to placate these students for every imaginable slight they bring to his attention. But this chancellor has made a series of bad decisions in his brief time here and he’s busy trying to put out fires left and right — some ill-advised firings and even dumber hirings, Title IX problems, plus a slew of unrelated controversies with the health system, the medical school, graduate students, the unions … so the protesters set their sights on a bigger fish — the system president. They blocked Wolfe’s car during the Homecoming parade a few weeks ago — they claimed he didn’t answer their emails so they wanted to discuss their list of demands right then & there. Wolfe didn’t get out of his car and campus police hustled them off the parade route. He has since met with several groups to discuss their concerns. They aren’t satisfied. Last week, students began camping out on the Quad. They say they’re going to stay until Wolfe leaves. It looks a lot like the Occupy Wall Street encampment in front of City Hall from three years ago. I don’t know if they go to class. They get a lot of pizza delivered to those tents. One student is on a hunger strike. One. He is Jonathan Butler, a graduate student in education who has been a leader in the protests here since the Ferguson riots. Says he won’t eat until Wolfe leaves. Wolfe sent out a statement today that he’s not resigning.

The protesters keep decrying “systemic racism” here and refer to a vague series of racist events. There have been two publicized incidents this fall. The student body president, a black male named Payton Head, claims he was walking down a campus street when a pickup truck drove by. The possibly inebriated white men riding in the bed of the pickup allegedly yelled racist slurs at Head. He took to Facebook the next day to rant about it and the post went viral. Some parts of his story just don’t seem to ring true and no one else witnessed the incident — there are many who doubt it even happened; others have wondered if the insults were aimed at his sexual preference rather than his race. The next month, a drunken white male student jumped onto an outdoor stage while the Legion of Black Collegians were working on Homecoming preparations. He uttered “a racial slur and used hurtful language,” they say, as he stumbled away. The Office of Student Conduct “moved” the student from campus (the university’s wording) and no one knows what happened to him.

I’m sorry, but the Constitution does not guarantee you the right to not get your feelings hurt. And there is nothing in the MU student handbook that says the campus chancellor or the university president is to blame if someone insults you.

The curators are meeting in executive session Monday. Although they may be discussing personnel issues, my guess is they’re trying to figure out the legal consequences of the football team’s “boycott” — with the apparent support of the coach — and the impact on the game scheduled with BYU for next Saturday in Kansas City. If Mizzou backs out of the scheduled game, MU has to pay $1 million to BYU. I don’t know if there is any additional financial obligation to Arrowhead Stadium. We may find out this week if the tail wags the dog at Mizzou.

Curiously (and I say that with all the cynicism I can muster), all this started in the aftermath of the Ferguson riots in 2014, yet the football players did not choose to inject themselves into the movement last year — no mention of a boycott on their way to an SEC East championship run. This year, mired in mediocrity with one SEC win on their record, they’re ready to bail on the season. Curious …