[heading size=”17″ margin=”10″]Don’t judge what you don’t understand[/heading]
[dropcap color=”#” bgcolor=”#” sradius=”0″]O[/dropcap]f all the human characteristics, empathy is undoubtedly the most necessary to create a cohesive and fair society. To be able to put oneself in someone else’s position and understand their situation before judging or criticizing their actions is fundamental to cooperation. If pointing a finger is more natural than holding a hand, human nature fails and hate takes over.
The Mizzou Hunger Strike developed from a lack of empathy. Campus leaders, like UMC President Tim Wolfe, did not think about the lives of their marginalized black students. These students, who are an exaggerated minority on campus that only make up seven percent of all UMC students, face oppression every day, whether it be as obvious as someone yelling the “n word” at a group of black students or more veiled, like when a fellow student says that affirmative action is the reason that they, as a white student, didn’t get a scholarship they applied for.
Minority members of the Missouri Student Association (MSA) have repeatedly tried to address these issues with college leaders to work out policies and programs to combat a growing race problem on campus. Before you say that there is no race problem on campus, if you are not black or another underrepresented minority on campus, you do not have a right to decide.
When they felt their voices were not being heard they stood around a car that Wolfe was riding in during the UM Homecoming parade. They tried to gain his attention, in a completely peaceful way, but they were ignored by Wolfe and call disrespectful by spectators.
Time after time, these students have been given, “I’ll look into it,” and “I am not sure that is possible.” Not one time were they greeted with empathy or assistance in their endeavor to create equality on campus. Many leaders, such as Wolfe, are not even educated on the issues. A student asked Wolfe what he thought systematic racism was and he responded with this gem, “It’s — systematic oppression is because you don’t believe that you have the equal opportunity for success. “ This seems to imply that systematic racism is an illusion in the heads of the very students it socially incarcerates.
How could leaders possibly help students feel comfortable and accepted on campus, if they don’t even understand that there are many students who are feeling uncomfortable and unaccepted?
The Mizzou Hunger Strike was born of frustration. It was born of exasperation. It was born of desperation. When a group is silenced and denied equal treatment for so long, they are bound to break. student Jonathan Butler penned a truly articulate letter stating that he was going on an indefinite hunger strike until Wolfe resigned or was fired from his position as UM President, or “his organs gave out.”
Wolfe symbolizes so much to these students, who call themselves Concerned Student 1950, named after the first year a black student was admitted to the University. Wolfe is a man who did not educate himself, did not work to create a more equal college and did not take concerns of marginalized students seriously. These students are not calling his character into question. Wolfe may be a fairly competent president, but he is contributing to a toxic environment by not addressing that environment. When a student feels comfortable enough on campus to use their own excrement to smear a swastika on the wall of a bathroom, there is a toxic environment that allows students to commit acts they wouldn’t normally.
Using such a radical tactic, like a hunger strike, is also a move that many have called into question. An indefinite hunger strike is radical by all means. But when the future of all black students on campus is also in question, nothing short of violence is too far. How did Mahatma Gandhi peacefully protest for the end of cruel British rule in India? Many hunger strikes, one lasting as long as 21 days. No one argues that this celebrated hero was in the wrong when he carried out a hunger strike.
When an individual is making history, there is often criticism and debate over whether their actions are ethical, but in the end, years after the event, people praise this person for taking a courageous stand and refusing to settle for anything less than revolutionary.
The results of this strike are plentiful. First they removed an incompetent leader who refused to take a harsh stance on racism, but more importantly they pulled an issue out of the dark and made people seriously analyze the environment of the University. Just because you don’t agree with some of these students actions doesn’t mean you can negate their results and call them panic inciters and incorrect in their demands.
Looking at the plight of Concerned Student 1950 and holding back any judgements, any criticisms, is key to truly understanding all sides of the issue. These students face struggles that most people do not. They have interacted with Wolfe and other campus leaders in ways that most have not. These students feel a duty to all of their posterior to change the current climate that most do not.
Before you say that Concerned Student 1950 is wrong, their actions are unethical and their quest unnecessary, think of empathy. Are you actually aware of what they are dealing with and feeling the same burden they do? As long as you are on a different path than them, do not tell them how to get to the finish line.
Written by Abby Kempf[/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section title=”No” tab_id=”1450686147832-fb6a4802-c207″]
[heading size=”17″ margin=”10″]Uneducated students crucify the wrong person[/heading]
[dropcap color=”#” bgcolor=”#” sradius=”0″]F[/dropcap]or the past month, the University of Missouri – Columbia (UMC) has been immersed in racial tensions, filled with students protests, a hunger strike and even a halting of the annual Homecoming Parade. The reactions sprouted from a series of events, including racial slurs directed at African-American students and a swastika drawn in a dorm bathroom. A majority of the objections were directed at UM system president Tim Wolfe for his inaction in response to the aforementioned activities deemed racist by certain student groups. As a result, on Nov. 9, 2015, Missouri system president Tim Wolfe finalized his resignation.
The students who have protested, however, are absolutely incorrect. Wolfe was unfairly characterized as unsympathetic and uncaring, resulting in him being incorrectly persecuted by uneducated students. The criticism should rest on the currently blameless shoulders of Mizzou’s chancellor, R. Bowen Loftin.
A large reason for unfair accusations against Wolfe result from students’ lack of knowledge regarding the UM leadership structure. Tim Wolfe was the system president, meaning he oversaw all four of MU’s campuses, including Missouri S&T in Rolla, UM-Kansas City, UM-St. Louis and UMC. Below the system president are the chancellors who are essentially the president of their own campus. With this in mind, it becomes clear that the chancellors have much more knowledge and context of troubling situations, and also have the ability to quell moments of crisis.
Blaming Wolfe instead of Loftin is like blaming the CEO of a company for an unprofessional district manager or blaming the principal of a school because of one teacher’s failures. Although Wolfe probably had knowledge of the situation that was occurring, it was not his direct responsibility to attend to the situation. No, Wolfe is not completely blameless in the situation. The ex-president could have and probably should have intervened. His action would not have been necessary, however, if Loftin fulfilled his responsibility in the first place.
With the roles of the administrators in mind, it is important to consider just how absurd the student protests were. Not only were they incorrectly placing blame on someone who was undeserving of it, they also failed to recognize the true culprit’s crimes.
Anyone who claims Loftin should not receive blame is simply incorrect. Shortly after Wolfe’s resignation, the chancellor also publicly announced he would resign at the end of the year. Despite receiving no real criticism from students, being mostly hidden from the spotlight and generally not blamed for the events that had occurred, he understood that he was truly the source of the problem, and realized his resignation was necessary.
While uninformed student protesters continued to call for Wolfe’s head, going as far as refusing to eat until the president resigned, they ignorantly failed to recognize the unfair actions and policies that were established under Loftin’s watch. His policies included stripping the graduate student health care program, removing the research scholarship fund of a research institution, recruiting an unprofessional medical school dean against the wishes of university medical staff and improperly handling the issues of racial tolerance and equity.
The lack of knowledge exhibited during the entire fiasco begs the question: what are the students really protesting against? If the answer is racism, then their mission must be completed. After Wolfe’s resignation, racial slurs will never be spoken, the n-word will never be said and offensive drawings like swastikas will not longer be penned, right? If the answer is Wolfe, then they are wrong. Rather than shouting hot air at a generally blameless figure, why not divert some of the attention and effort into finding who is really to blame in this situation.
The point is not that Wolfe was not at fault. Nor is it the point that Loftin has never done good for the University of Missouri. The point is that students, faculty, administrators, citizens and countless others have blindly supported this matter, despite its illogical reason, despite being completely uneducated on the topic themselves.
Still, students ignorantly rejoiced following Wolfe’s resignation, unknowing of the real issues that have remained unaddressed, and unknowing of the real culprit who has still yet to receive any considerable blame.
After the protester’s unfair demands were met, and Wolfe was, in many ways, forced out of office, the students still refuse to realize their mistake. Most argue that Wolfe created a culture that accepted racism, and an environment that operated like a business. But many of the racist actions that were swept under the rug passed by Loftin’s eyes first. Furthermore, the issue of racism, sincere as it is, was truly a fraction of the issues that Loftin created. Yet the protesters rejoice like martyrs after falsely convicting a truly innocent man.
But these students embarrassingly did not stop there. On Nov. 10, joined by UM communications professor Melissa Click, protesters refused to let student Tim Tai, a student journalist, report the situation. Those who refused to let Tai broadcast the situation claimed him to be infringing on their privacy, despite the fact that their protests were held on public grounds of a federal land grant, public state university. Police enforcement is in the right to expel the students from the area; which, in all honesty, should probably happen very soon.
The snowball of unprofessional, incorrect reaction was started by the students in their uninformed, illogical protest of President Wolfe. The mistakes gathered momentum, eventually leading to faculty committing similar blunders. Unfortunately, these behaviors have spread to the administration. On the same day as the media debacle involving Tai and others, an email was issued to faculty members stating that police forces were to be called if “incidents of hateful and/or hurtful speech” was witnessed. Perhaps the senders of the email didn’t graduate ninth grade civics. Perhaps they have forgotten that the first amendment allows for the freedom of speech, and citizens cannot be arrested for stating their beliefs.
The point is not that Wolfe was not at fault. Nor is it the point that Loftin has never done good for the University of Missouri. The point is that students, faculty, administrators, citizens and countless others have blindly supported this matter, despite its illogical reason, despite being completely uneducated on the topic themselves. Educate yourself about the community. Learn the real story, figure out who is really to blame, then make decisions about the actions that need to happen to reach the ultimate goal.
Written by Ji-Ho Lee
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