University football players protest racial incidents

Students demand resignation of president, introduction of racial-awareness program

COLUMBIA, MO.— Student protests over racial incidents on the University of Missouri campus escalated over the weekend when at least 30 black football players announced they will not participate in team activities until the school’s president is removed.

President Tim Wolfe gave no indication he has any intention of stepping down, but agreed in a statement Sunday that “change is needed” and said the university is working to draw up a plan by April to promote diversity and tolerance.

For months, black student groups have complained of racial slurs and other slights on the overwhelmingly white, 35,000-student campus. Tensions flared during the homecoming parade Oct. 10 when black protesters blocked Wolfe’s car in an unsuccessful attempt to talk to him.

On Saturday night, black members of the football team joined the outcry.

The athletes did not say explicitly whether they would boycott the team’s three remaining games this season. The Tigers’ next game is Saturday against Brigham Young University at Arrowhead Stadium, the home of the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs, and cancelling it could cost the school more than $1 million.

Head football coach Gary Pinkel promptly expressed solidarity with the black players on Twitter by posting a picture of the team and coaches locking arms. The tweet read: “The Mizzou Family stands as one. We are united. We are behind our players.”

The statement from the football players included a photograph of 32 black men. Among them was Jonathan Butler, a black graduate student who is nearly a week into a hunger strike to call attention to racial problems on campus.

“The athletes of colour on the University of Missouri football team truly believe ‘Injustice Anywhere is a threat to Justice Everywhere,’ ” the players said. “We will no longer participate in any football related activities until President Tim Wolfe resigns or is removed due to his negligence toward marginalized students’ experience. We are united.”

Missouri won the Southeastern Conference East title in 2013 and 2014, but is unranked this year with a 4-5 record.

“The athletes of colour on the University of Missouri football team truly believe ‘Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.’ ” UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI FOOTBALL PLAYERS

The protests at the campus began after the student government president, who is black, said in September that someone in a passing pickup truck shouted racial slurs at him. Days before the homecoming pa- rade, members of a black student organization said slurs were hurled at them by an apparently drunk white student.

Also, a swastika drawn in feces was found recently in a dormitory bath- room.

The school’s undergraduate population is 79 per cent white and 8 per cent black. The state is about 83 per cent white and nearly 12 per cent black.