My University Is A National Embarrassment
For a school known for journalism, the University of Missouri is tremendous at making headlines. The only problem is, over the last few months, those headlines have been downright humiliating for students, alumni, and staff from Mizzou. While it pains me to say it, it’s the truth: I’m embarrassed by my alma mater.
I had a great time at Mizzou. I met new people, joined a fraternity my freshman year, watched the school join the SEC, cheered the football team to back-to-back 11-plus win seasons, rushed the field multiple times, got a little too drunk even more times and still managed to get a quality education and graduate in four years. Overall, I had nothing negative to say about the school I knew and loved. I considered myself lucky to be a Missouri Tiger.
That’s changed in recent months though.
I had a job interview a few weeks ago. It wasn’t too out of the ordinary. They asked the standard questions about my background: what my current position is like, where I grew up and, oh yeah, where I went to college.
“So, you went to Mizzou, right?” the hiring manager asked.
“Uh, ha. Um, yeah, I did,” I responded.
Ask me that question six months ago and the response would’ve been nothing short of “You bet your sweet ass I did! Mizzou Tigers, ride or die!” It’s different now. For an alumnus, the word Mizzou makes you shudder as you wait to hear what’s gone wrong next.
Here’s a brief timeline of events that have happened at Mizzou:
Aug. 2015 – Mizzou announces it will no longer pay for graduate students’ health insurance. Graduate students hold rallies, classroom walkouts. The university’s decision is eventually reversed.
Sept. 2015 – Missouri Student Association president Payton Head posts on Facebook about racial slurs hurled at him while he was walking on campus. Six days later, now-former MU Chancellor R. Bowen Loftin issues a statement.
Oct. 2015 – Rallies against racism continue on campus as Loftin orders diversity and inclusion training for staff and students.
Then, the first domino falls in the #ConcernedStudent1950 fight against now-former UM Systems President Tim Wolfe. Protesters block Wolfe’s car during the Homecoming parade. After a tense few minutes, protestors claim seventh-year student Jonathan Butler was hit by Wolfe’s car.
This might be the most infuriating part of the soon-to-be protests. The protesters allege this incident proved Wolfe’s lack of consideration for black students. However, when you check the video around 6:38, it’s clear Butler is the one who runs into Wolfe’s car.
Regardless, the protesters submit a list of demands, calling for an apology from Wolfe and for his resignation. Days later, a seemingly unrelated poop swastika is drawn in a dorm bathroom.
Nov. 2015 – It hits the fan. Jonathan Butler begins a hunger strike. By this time, Butler’s already been deeply involved in the grad student protests and Planned Parenthood protests. This marks at least his third political protest of the semester, according to student newspaper The Maneater.
Protesters later set up a tent city on campus, Wolfe issues statement for his concerns about Butler, and then the protesters confront Wolfe in Kansas City.
Oh really @UMPrez this is what you think Systematic oppression is?!? @umcurators @CNN @Oprah pic.twitter.com/eSuOqPfT2b
— Qiana (@Qiana_Jade) November 7, 2015
This video was another turning point. Wolfe reluctantly engaged the protesters, responding with his definition of systematic oppression. Unfortunately for him, the few words he was able to get out weren’t the right answer.
Shortly thereafter, Mizzou players boycott football activities in support of Butler. Head coach Gary Pinkel later tweets support of players’ actions.
The Mizzou Family stands as one. We are united. We are behind our players. #ConcernedStudent1950 GP pic.twitter.com/fMHbPPTTKl
— Coach Gary Pinkel (@GaryPinkel) November 8, 2015
Nov. 9, 2015 – Wolfe resigns, Loftin resigns, protesters celebrate, professor Melissa Click is caught on camera calling for muscle to remove journalist. The campus remains tense through the night. Two threats are posted on social media (none coming from MU students). MSA president Payton Head posts on Facebook the KKK is on campus and he’s in contact with the National Guard. The KKK wasn’t on campus and Head would likely be the last person the National Guard would call. The post is later removed and Head apologizes.
Gary Pinkel retires as head football coach days later.
January 2016 – Wolfe sends scathing email, Click is charged with third-degree assault and later suspended, video of quarterback Maty Mauk snorting a white substance is released, Mauk is suspended and later dismissed from the team, MSA president-elect Hayden Gomez resigns amid campaign allegations, MSA Vice-President-elect takes over presidential responsibilities, appoints Head as Vice President, then resigns. Head takes over as interim MSA president.
That’s enough scandal to last a university a lifetime. Instead, it’s been crammed into six short months.
I don’t believe ConcernedStudent1950 is the source of all the university’s problems. Wolfe was hired in 2011 and Loftin was hired two years later. Unknown at the time, the cracks had already started to form.
The Greek community specifically started questioning leadership, especially Loftin’s leadership, after a list of half-baked ideas to reform Greek Life leaked over the 2015 summer. The proposals included drug testing fraternity and sorority members, banning women from fraternity houses during party hours and more.
That being said, I do believe #ConcernedStudent1950 protesters used childish tactics to get what they wanted. A few stomped and shouted under the veil of poor and defenseless college students oppressed by the big, bad Wolfe. They gained momentum. The football team’s actions turned the protests into an unstoppable force, bent on destroying anything in its path. It didn’t matter if it was school officials or student journalists, go against the tide and you’re a racist.
So now, here we stand. A school with a football team in disarray. A school with no leadership. A school with no pride. A school with no plan. A school with little to no appeal to prospective students.
And the embarrassments aren’t over yet because the fallout of these events will continue to shadow every move the university makes. The school won’t recover from this past year for a long while.
I hope I’m wrong. I hope I look back on this article one day and realize how stupid it is, but today is not that day. Tomorrow won’t be that day either. I’m not sure when that day will come.
I used to be proud to be a Missouri Tiger. Right now, I couldn’t be any more humiliated..
Image via Shutterstock
It’s ok to feel embarrassed, you’re in a safe space now.
9 years ago at 2:52 pm*ITS FUNNY BECAUSE SAFE SPACE IS WHAT THE PROTESTERS WANTED*
9 years ago at 2:54 pmThanks for clearing that up.
9 years ago at 3:46 pmYou’ll speak when spoken to.
9 years ago at 4:41 pmAs someone who graduated from Penn State in 2012, I know exactly how you feel. It gets better.
9 years ago at 2:54 pmMizzou is a different breed. Mizzou has always been where they are. Hell. Organizationally and systematically. What did they expect by joining the rest of the slave states? Years of racial and cultural harmony?
9 years ago at 9:25 pmThose damn ohio st fans still bring that shit up
9 years ago at 1:37 amDo you guys just mumble along now? Reaching out, ______ing me, ______ing you
9 years ago at 11:42 amFuck liberals
9 years ago at 2:56 pmAs a current Mizzou student, I’m curious how other people/students perceive us? It’s hard to tell while living in Columbia. Are we sincerely thought of as a joke right now, or is it just “Mizzou has a bunch of stupid shit going on right now”?
9 years ago at 2:57 pmLiving outside of Missouri, I can pretty accurately sum it up with, “We don’t look so great.”
9 years ago at 3:01 pmSweet. Fucking idiots.
9 years ago at 3:03 pmFrom the outside looking in, it seems that way. If I’m a high school senior I don’t go there unless I want to be coddled with child gloves and told that everything will be ok.
9 years ago at 3:05 pmI’m a student at Missouri State University. Last year some black lives matter protesters complained about racial slurs and gun gestures directed at them during a tailgate. Luckily we are small enough that mizzou gets all the attention. One of the only benefits of being in another schools shadow.
9 years ago at 3:10 pmWent to Missouri state on sneak once, you guys don’t actually have tailgates.
9 years ago at 3:35 pmThis is true^ last year they finally allowed us to bring alcohol on campus but just for game day. I think they realized the only way college students will come out to watch their team get bent over for four quarters is if we are hammered drunk.
9 years ago at 6:38 pmOn the surface it looks awful but personally, I’ve been around politics for long enough to realize that the loudest, most obnoxious people are usually in the minority. I’m sure the vast majority Mizzou students of every race/ethnicity just want to watch their football team, drink an irresponsible amount of alcohol, and make bad sexual choices, like any normal 18-22 year old.
9 years ago at 3:51 pmI will root against mizzou for the rest of my life because of the bs that has happened in the past 6 months
9 years ago at 8:26 amAs a mixed High school senior, who is also a Missouri resident, I basically said, “fuck that,” after hearing rumors about the KKK. After everything that happened in Ferguson, I’m not taking any risks.
9 years ago at 3:51 amAll started by a 7 year student who happens to be the son of a multi millionaire
9 years ago at 2:58 pmwho is a professional victim.
9 years ago at 5:01 pmWho the hell are you?
9 years ago at 9:00 pm“still managed to get a quality education”
It’s cool to have pride in your school all, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves here.
9 years ago at 2:58 pmHe was J-school. I’d say that’s an accurate statement.
9 years ago at 3:02 pmDude fuck the student body president that told everyone the kkk was on campus when they weren’t. I don’t use this word to describe many people, but that kids a fucking cunt.
9 years ago at 3:05 pmYea the KKK doesnt even really exist anymore and if it has little undergroud slivers left there is no way it is organized enough to invade a campus. They just want to manufacture outrage at a certain point
9 years ago at 7:00 pmIt’s obvious you don’t go to school in the South.
9 years ago at 7:34 pmI don’t, and if you care to elaborate about how prevalent they actually are some other Yankees (although fuck the yankees) and I would find it pretty interesting. Someone being in the kkk from where I’m from would be like someone being from mars. Doesn’t happen
9 years ago at 12:02 pmI’m from New York, Long Island specifically. They hold rally’s and hand out literature a few times a year. They aren’t prevalent, but there are chapters here.
9 years ago at 9:09 amCunt is under-used.
9 years ago at 11:42 amAs a freshman at Mizzou I couldn’t agree more with this. I’m a Columbia native and have always been proud of my city and university. My dad, who is an alum, asked me the other day that if I wasn’t in Greek life, would I want to transfer. He knew the answer, I knew the answer. Of course I would transfer if the circumstances were reasonable. Why would anyone want to attend a university that you aren’t proud of? The events that have transpired here my freshman year are absolutely embarrassing.
9 years ago at 3:09 pmIs this more or less embarrassing than having Rob “bacon” Fox as an alumnus?
9 years ago at 3:12 pmI hope Mizzou spirals even further downward. Empowering a bunch of PC crybabies to the point where they can successfully extort university officials into resigning is a terrifying precedence to set. I hope other university officials have taken note and can see what happens when they give in to the demands of under-educated people. On a similar note, I also hope these state universities understand what can happen when they drop their minimum enrollment requirements based on..um, criteria that isn’t merit-based.
9 years ago at 3:21 pmI agree. If we give an inch they take a mile. PC crowds will not stop bullying and harassing everyday people. they will keep finding stuff to be offended at
9 years ago at 7:01 pm