Missouri holds team meeting on player strike, university president releases statement
University of Missouri president Tim Wolfe has issued a statement in response to the massive on-campus boycott calling for his dismissal:
Official statement from @UMPrez/@umsystem: pic.twitter.com/XKBYCtEAa6
— Ashley Jost (@ajost) November 8, 2015
Members of Missouri’s athletic department met with several players for more than an hour on Sunday to discuss the ongoing campus, initiated as an effort to dethrone Wolfe due to ongoing racial tension.
The Legion of Black Collegians said Saturday in a statement that black football players won’t participate in any “football-related” activities” until Wolfe “resigns or is removed due to his negligence toward marginalized students’ experiences.”
RELATED: Comprehensive list of demands from Mizzou protestors
Several notable Missouri players tweeted in support of #ConcernedStudent1950 including starters Charles Harris and tailback Russell Hansbrough:
Mizzou Football is United. No racial division amongst US. — Charles Harris (@AO1_Charles) November 8, 2015
Never thought I would be in place or time like this to actually make a difference. — Russell Hansbrough (@imthatnike) November 8, 2015
After meeting, Missouri coach Gary Pinkel sent out this tweet in support of his players:
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
Jon Solomon of CBS Sports reported that Ramogi Human, president of the National College Players Association, supports the players’ decision to strike:
NCPA president Ramogi Huma, who wasn’t involved in organizing Missouri boycott, says he supports the boycott 100%. — Jon Solomon (@JonSolomonCBS) November 8, 2015
Ramogi Huma on Missouri boycott: “College athletes shouldn’t feel obligated to play for a university that blames victims for crimes.” — Jon Solomon (@JonSolomonCBS) November 8, 2015
Missouri governor Jay Nixon said this about the protests:
Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon on the protests at the University of Missouri #abc17 pic.twitter.com/LJrb6WHKhl — Austin Kim (@AustinKKim) November 8, 2015
Former Missouri wide receiver T.J. Moe, who is white, has been vocal about the situation at his university. He published a series of tweets this weekend about his experience at Missouri and says the racism that exists on campus didn’t make its way into football facility, at least not during his career:
Inside the locker room, there was never a time at Mizzou that I observed any racial tension. We were best friends. Bet it’s the same now. — T.J. Moe (@TJMoe28) November 8, 2015
This isn’t a locker room issue for Mizzou. This is a group of individuals supporting a protest against things that happened on campus. — T.J. Moe (@TJMoe28) November 8, 2015
I was asked this morning by @bomani_jones how I would help change if it wasn’t by sitting the game. Here’s my answer pic.twitter.com/u3W1Fh4InZ — T.J. Moe (@TJMoe28) November 8, 2015
Players have not yet decided if the strike will continue and affect the rest of the season:
Talked to one Missouri FB player: “We REALLY want to play. But some of us feel this could be one of the most important things we ever do.” — Robert Klemko (@RobertKlemko) November 8, 2015
I bet they wouldn’t strike if they were undefeated and in the hunt for the CFP?
More to the point that if one of them were looking at first round money in the NFL and they were in contention you can bet they wouldn’t be part of this. Funny how losing and not really caring to hit the field in the remaining games makes this easy to protest. Makes them look a bit hypocritical.
Nah. They wouldn’t think twice. Stupid people seeing racism behind everything are following their idols Shaun “White Cracker” King and Dummy Deray. They wanted the prez to admit his non existent white privilege and grovel for forgiveness THEN resign? Hellllll nah.
they are standing up for something they believe in. so, go ahead and criticize them. criticize protestors. say they just don’t care, because they’re losing etc. but you obviously never played any ball on any kind of real team. if you had, you would know that it’s not about how many wins you have. what makes them look hypocritical? just because you think they wouldn’t do it otherwise, does not mean they wouldn’t or didn’t and are hypocritical. it just means that you are making negative comments about a group of people who care about something that you don’t understand. and that makes you feel ignorant. but instead on reflecting on your own inferiority complex, you try to tear them down. you should reflect on your own life and stop judging people who are standing up for what they believe in.
Guess we’ll find out, as they say, “whose ass is blackest”… Hide and watch…
You can slam my comment all you want but it doesn’t change the fact that if they were in contention they would all of a sudden find an excuse to put this off until some other time. Which, to me makes them hypocritical. That is just my opinion and just like yours its my right to express it. That doesn’t mean that I disagree with their cause. As much as you would like to JUDGE me and say so. I guess you don’t get that your comment is a bit hypocritical in itself by calling me judgmental. And you call me ignorant. Right!!
And by the way, there are reports on this very site this morning quoting players who say exactly what I have pointed out to you. Players who say they are pissed with this and that includes some of the Black players so take your sanctimony elsewhere.
I would give all those players that want to break the contract they signed an immediate revocation of scholarship and escort from the athletic facilities and campus. If they want to quit, regardless of the reason, don’t stand in their way. Others will take their place.
Need a like button on SDS, folks.
need a like button x2
I know pretty much none of you will agree with me but I’m with them. I hope they hold out and inspire some change.
I’m completely with you. As a former alumni, I know how uncomfortable of an atmosphere it was on campus for people of color. Other people are calling to take their scholarships, but I don’t think they realize that this is bigger than football. Yeah, sports are great, but if you don’t feel safe living in a city, why would you want to get an education there? Racism exists, but just accepting it as “something that happens” is a dangerous sentiment. I’m extremely proud of all of these students, and disappointed in sports fans for not understanding how brave these kids are being.
Ok with all due respect – if these athletes of color were great enough to get offers at Missouri, then they almost all certainly had offers elsewhere. If Columbia North has is such a HORRID place for blacks, it puzzles me as to what brought them there over other institutions.
Additionally, I struggle to see what they actually want changed. Demanding the Univ’s Prez’s head is great and all, but the two most recent incidents that happened at Missouri were handled appropriately from what I have read.
What’s the solution? Make Wolfe resign, hire Al Sharpton as the new prez, make all white students apologize for being white? Game plan?
What great logic youve got there. Why did the black people go to a college with white people is really what you’re asking and quite simply its because THEY arent racist. Hell the entire team is backing this and its only about 50% black. Your logic is so bad its actually painful to see you grasp at invisible straws in an effort to debunk this. This isnt even about them, they’re just standing with the Jewish people that were affected but hey, i guess if you aren’t Caucasian then your complaints dont matter, right?
WOW! As a Gator Alumnus…. I can tell you that I am completely embarrassed that you have my Alma Mater’s mascot by your name. The Gator Nation I know does NOT condone ignorance or bigotry. I hope the students at Missouri who read this understand that your voice definitely does not speak for all of us.
I’ll second what sstonelcsw said. UF is a great place full of smart people who support equity and inclusion, unlike the asshat GodBlesstheSouth.
The question was rhetorical, in essence getting at my point that Columbia, is, in fact, not a horrible place for blacks.
Thanks for the name calling, though
Coozie, I suggest that you turn in your MSU band scholarship and uniform. Move your arse to Mizzou and join the movement. Inspire change there if you desire. I also suggest that you invest your remaining time in Starkville at Pine Lake since you have stated before that you don’t believe in God. You really don’t belong here since you are, in fact, a racist. Racism is a two-way street. Supporting the quagmire at Mizzou proves you are racist.
What kind of change do you want? White people get mistreated and are the minority because everybody wants to pull the race card so we have to kiss ass. You don’t see other races burning American flags my grandpa fight for, but they’ll sure take that free money that flag is giving them with my tax dollars. Quit playing pitty party and grow a set of nuts
sorry, I know you want to make something better but instead you are just empowering selfish people.
Amen
I say rescind their scholarships. It’s time to stop caving to political correctness. Life happens, people are going to do and say things, and sometimes they might be racist, you deal with it, and move on. To act like you can protest racism and that fix things, how do you know the next guy in line isn’t even more racist than the one you think is now? Answer, you don’t. This country is acting like little toddlers who pitch tantrums when they don’t get their way, and 9 times out of 10, the right and left CAVE to these idiots, so they keep going with it. Burn these scholarships if they don’t play, and give them to people who want to play football, rather than make political statements and ruin a man’s career.
“racism happens, get over it”. You’re the problem.
no josh, you are.
Josh, you are the problem.
Well so much for driving to KC next weekend.
This is an easy decision to make when you have a losing record, and the only games you can win are against high school teams.
Well I really don’t want to watch a team that doesn’t care about its fans. I get that they’re taking a stand for what they believe in. The cycle is that players feel jaded, therefore making us fans pay, which makes you wonder, is it the fans or is it the players that make the money for the university. I just real feel like not going to another game
Pinkel gets paid millions to coach, and for him to just act like, ok I’m fine with them not playing…that’s not going to sit too well with fans. I’m not the kind of person who can’t see two sides to a story, but I mean come on, fans are important. Has he seen what a Miami Hurricanes stadium looks like recently??? EMPTY. Take care of your players but don’t forget about us fans!
So everyone who is white exerts white privilege? That is the most ridiculous statement of stereotypical broad brushing crap I have ever heard.
More talk and still no evidence of a connection between Wolfe, Loftin, or anyone else employed by the University. If there is a boogie man, could we please be shown who he is and what he did or didn’t do. Otherwise, cancel the season because I won’t miss watching a group or a team create something out of nothing. WHERE IS THE INCIDENT ? WHERE IS THE PATTERN OF BEHAVIOR THAT CONNECTS THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI TO RACISM ?
Good questions. Anyone have any answers to them?
Well it WAS founded in 1839 and is just now, in the year 2015, trying to implement a plan to raise the diversity of life on campus……thats a pretty significant fact…..
ONCE AGAIN – someone else is asking “what do they want?” (and no I don’t mean the demands of apologizing for white privilege and resignation – LOLZ) and nobody has an answer.
No it’s just now doing nothing of the sort. The University of Missouri campus has been the most culturally diverse place in the State of Missouri since 1839. You obviously have zero understanding of history and how the whole social profile has changed over the years. Your idea of a fact the most uninformed ignorant mindset I’ve seen in a while. You probably think real history started the day you were born, and only kicked into high gear the day you enrolled in college.
If Gary Pinkel had a set of balls, he would issue a statement saying that any player NOT participating in scheduled practiced would be disciplined as per athletic department policy, including if necessary, suspension from the team.
Yeah….you gotta have balls to be a bully, right?
Who is a bully?: 1.people who form a large group and surround cars. 2. people who block the safe flow of traffic 3. people who threaten drivers in large groups 4. people who don’t leave the street when police ask them to. 5. large groups of college students who yell at girl scouts are bullies. 6. large groups of people who harass visitors to campus are bullies 7. people who form sub-groups within a team and force the whole team to support them are bullies. 8. coaching staffs that refuse to keep their contracts as a group are bullies 9. people who can’t show just cause for civil disturbances are bullies. 10. just so you know, I also think police who go beyond reasonable use of force are worse than bullies. But people who hire based on ability and experience are good managers, not bullies. Any group who seeks power based on race, creed, nationality, gender, …yup… bullies. A college president forced to resign with what appears to be very little written about the cause??? yup clearly the work of bullies.
Yeah! That’s thinking! I bet future recruits (especially blacks) would love to play for a coach like that. One that stands behind them and against racism. Think before you speak.
AMEN
Now that this is national news there’s no way that Tim Wolfe gets to keep his job. He should’ve been more responsive and proactive to the situation before it got this far out of control. Right now this is a black mark hanging over the whole university as wells as it’s administration. Wolfe is going to have a tough time trying to find new employment once he does finally get fired or step down at Mizzou.
‘black mark’? Nice pun.
I believe that is the point where I would fire Pinkel. If I were a student at Mizzou on my own Dime and these guys still had their scholarships, I wouldn’t stage a protest. I would seek legal counsel, file a grievance with the office of the dean of my college, file a complaint at the rigistrar and comptroller, contact the governor’s office, contact my state rep. and senator, and get as many other students to help blow up the phones and the filing cabinets until somebody got the point. The way these kids, and I mean kids, are going about this is completely unethical is the university and the athletic dept has a responsibility to do the right thing here. This is completely unfair to those folks that are working and participating as required by their scholarships. If something is amiss, there are legal channels, some folks are just too lazy to use them.
I say send them packing, they are getting a 1st class education and want to act like this.
I got to agree with a lot of people that these students are on a athletic scolarship and should they continue to strike and not participate in there a signed sport their scolarship should be pulled and moved oUT of athletic housing, and moved into residential housing if they continue there studies at MU, Pinkle wouldn’t be doing anything wrong in his actions to suspend them.
We know they have issues, every school, from K-12 though every college in this country will have those bigots, zealots and racial slurs slung at every student, call it racial, call it Bullying doesn’t matter, white, black,yellow, Jewish, Catholic Baptist or Mormon it happens but it can’t be changed overnight with the removal of a Campus President, or taught to students and expect changes that fast, what most see when a small group like this demand the changes that are issued to this body just shows how much racial prejudices exist in the group demanding the changes.
I can’t imagine Missouri forfeiting the game against BYU. Some sort of agreement will be reached by midweek. This is SEC football which, as is very apparent to anyone who is a football fan in this country, is a very big deal. How would you handle lost ticket sales, plane tickets, lost revenues in hotels, restaurants, events, caterers, shopping. Kansas City business owners/groups would be upset. My goodness these are all educated, smart people….make some immediate changes now. People just want to be shown respect and that their concerns are heard.
There is absolutely nothing to be gained by getting angry the protesting players here. This is the United States, where the right to protest is protected, and if the university and the football program doesn’t respect that right, the situation will become infinitely worse. It was smart for Pinkel to come out and (at least publicly) support his players. If this is botched by the coaching staff/administration, we could be looking at a massive divide in the locker room that leads to multiple missed games and a mass exodus at the end of the season. This is a pretty apocalyptic scenario for a program that is trying to get back to relevance following what will go down as a disastrous season on the field. It must be avoided.
Missouri most now tread VERY cautiously, and support these players and their cause…while trying to get the team back on the field as quickly as possible. The former is much more important than the latter. In terms of getting to a bowl game or reaching any other objective, this season is lost, and the remaining games are only going to lead to a 4-8 record instead of the 4-5 record we have now. The financial hit would be damaging, but probably survivable. So if this team skips the BYU game, or even the other two remaining games, that certainly is painful, but we can and would survive that.
And even stripping all moral tones away, you can’t simply release a massive percentage of your roster. There goes all the “We’re a family, and we support each other” stuff. There goes all recruiting possibilities for the coaching staff. There goes the Gary Pinkel era at Missouri. So no, that can’t, won’t, and most importantly shouldn’t, happen.
I don’t know how to best handle this situation, but Tim Wolfe and Bowin Loften are paid the big bucks to sort these types of situations out and reach the best outcome for all involved. We’ll now see if they’re up to the task. Their jobs and the reputation of this university will very much depend on the quality of the response here.
Finally, I just want to say that we must remember the cause these players are supporting. It’s a very good and very important one. You may disagree with their methods, but they are nonetheless doing something very painful in the attempt to right social injustices. That’s worthy of respect, even as we’re upset that we might not get to enjoy watching them play on Saturday.
Sorry for the long post, but I felt the need to weigh in here…and there is a lot to say.
Would you make the same argument about a group of white students and players taking the same actions to support a KKK protest?
Well said bball.
If Pinkel and Rhodes are putting their careers on the line by supporting a strike against their bosses -Wolfe and Lofton- that will have a financial impact against the school it just adds to the seriousness of the situation. Your either a family or your not and once again I think they just proved they are.
They young men know what’s at stake. They saw Michael SAMs fall in the draft and the huge financial hit he suffered in signing bonus for taking a stand.
Some say they wouldn’t be doing this if they were undefeated, I would like to think they would.
The administration is totally at fault for not taking action sooner and for blowing off the homecoming protest. Wolfe doesn’t survive this.
This does hurt fans planning to attend the games. That’s our part we can do. I will be seeing more games next year.
Proud of our Tigers.
Think it’s time for a real discussion about race in this country folks? The society is spiraling out of control. People need to understand what racism and oppression really look like first and it isn’t what we see in the US. White and black racism needs to be addressed and recognized for what it is. Those who advocate for either white or black power need to be marginalized and removed from the discussion. When that happens, you will have a far greater chance to find a consensus. We need to get back to the mindset that made America what it was: we do what it takes to succeed and we, as individuals, are responsible for our own individual success or failure. Demanding to be treated as a victim will never bring you success. Finally, we need to stop dividing people into groups. White, black, brown, whatever who cares? We are Americans. We need to be pulling the rope in the same direction. We all want the same thing. How is holding on to the past ever going to improve your future?
Very well said RTRnTX…
Am I a racist because I object to the violent fear mongers in many if not most predominantly black neighborhoods. Can I pass unacosted thru Cabrini Green, south Chicago, watts, Compton, Overtown, or pork and beans projects. Btw I’m fairly impoverished yet I treat people with respect when they are respectful and am not easily intimidated. With that said lets be real. I’ve said forever it seems, Springfield has to be one the most racist areas left in the U.S.. Didn’t realize it stretched all the way to liberal Columbia. But constant over reacting and over reaching will kill the cause.
So someone drew a swastika with crap in a bathroom stall, you don’t know who did it, why, and to whom was it directed if it was even a threat at all. There is no evidence of any name calling, no cell phone video, nothing. I’m not saying it’s never happened, I’m saying if it’s that pervasive, then there would be more evidence. For this, you want to fire the univ president?
I heard a student complaining that black enrollment is only 10%. Let’s see, black population is 13% and high school graduation rate is 68% for blacks and 85% for whites, so there seems to be parity. However, they may have a point, so they should restrict Mizzou athletic scholarships to black player to only 13%. Facts and logic are probably just white privilege.
Personally I thought a swastika would have offended the Jewish students as opposed to Black students.
I’m appalled that the university would even consider mandatory diversity training for all incoming students!!! If i’m paying for an education I do not want it to be based on these wacko minded, entitlement wanting demonstrators. The university needs to grow a pair and stand up to this instead of bowing down. Mr. Wolfe the group of 1950 DEMAND your head on a stick and for what, an anonymous name caller? Is it true that there are about 7% minority students attending the university and the percentage of minority faculty exceeds that number?