[Kathy]

Your perception is outdated. One of Columbia's nicknames is "Havana on the Hinkson" (Hinkson Creek is one of several waterways that meander through the town on their way to the Missouri River). Yes, the area was known as Little Dixie back in the day (and there's still a lake by that name), but the Civil War ended 150 years ago. Missourians fought for both sides (Columbia was Union, by the way). Blacks have attended MU since 1950.  The MU administration is diverse, the governing Board of Curators is diverse, the MU student council is diverse, the Columbia City Council is diverse, the Columbia school board is diverse. There is program after program in place at multiple levels at the university and in the community to achieve even greater diversity. Sometimes it seems like that's all university administrators do -- create more diversity programs.

Does racism still exist? Absolutely. But the headline-grabbing instances that these activists have glommed onto are not indicative of the atmosphere in this town (well, until this week maybe, as a response to this outrageous chaos engulfing us). The president of the system cannot make insults go away. He cannot increase admission levels of certain groups without lowering standards -- that will take years of effort & improvement in the secondary schools to bring up quality of applicants. Tim Wolfe had been working on that improvement since he got here -- traveling throughout the state, meeting with schools, students, community members, all stakeholders. Geez ... I wonder how far back the Mizzou Advantage program has been set back.

[Kathy]

Your perception is outdated. One of Columbia's nicknames is "Havana on the Hinkson" (Hinkson Creek is one of several waterways that meander through the town on their way to the Missouri River). Yes, the area was known as Little Dixie back in the day (and there's still a lake by that name), but the Civil War ended 150 years ago. Missourians fought for both sides (Columbia was Union, by the way). Blacks have attended MU since 1950.  The MU administration is diverse, the governing Board of Curators is diverse, the MU student council is diverse, the Columbia City Council is diverse, the Columbia school board is diverse. There is program after program in place at multiple levels at the university and in the community to achieve even greater diversity. Sometimes it seems like that's all university administrators do -- create more diversity programs.

Does racism still exist? Absolutely. But the headline-grabbing instances that these activists have glommed onto are not indicative of the atmosphere in this town (well, until this week maybe, as a response to this outrageous chaos engulfing us). The president of the system cannot make insults go away. He cannot increase admission levels of certain groups without lowering standards -- that will take years of effort & improvement in the secondary schools to bring up quality of applicants. Tim Wolfe had been working on that improvement since he got here -- traveling throughout the state, meeting with schools, students, community members, all stakeholders. Geez ... I wonder how far back the Mizzou Advantage program has been set back.