University of Missouri responds to growing racially charged backlash [UPDATED]

Tensions have been growing for Mizzou, and this author says inappropriate behavior has been a norm for many years. Here’s how student and athlete protests are good PR, and are forcing the school to change.

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As a Mizzou grad and a Tiger football supporter, I was intrigued. It’s hard to believe this conversation is happening in 2015, but when I think back on my experience there, it makes perfect sense.

Here’s a quick rundown of what has happened in Columbia, Missouri, in the last few weeks.

1. Mizzou students have been protesting the school’s response (or lack thereof) to a handful of racially motivated incidents. (The most recent involved someone using human feces to smear a swastika on a residence hall wall.)

2. Missouri grad student Jonathan Butler started a hunger strike last Monday, saying he refused to eat until Mizzou’s president, Timothy M. Wolfe, steps down.

If you don’t know already, here is our story. #ConcernedStudent1950 pic.twitter.com/BNi8NggYV6

— JB. (@_JonathanButler) October 13, 2015

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