Mizzou Appoints African American Interim President In the week since Mizzou football players forced the University’s racist president to step down with their protest, the school has been in a state of racial turmoil and unrest — with racist threats made against the Black student body. Now, the University has put a Black man in the driver’s seat to turn the situation on campus around. Via STL Today : After Michael Middleton founded the Legion of Black Collegians, he personally delivered a list of race-related demands to the University of Missouri chancellor in 1969. Some might call it fitting, then, that he take the helm of the UM system after the student group Concerned Student 1950 handed the university its list of demands for racial inclusion and shared governance. “It is clear to me the first step is to devote attention to addressing those demands,” Middleton, 68, said Thursday at a news conference. “It is imperative to hear from all students and do everything we can to make them comfortable and safe in our community.” The University of Missouri Board of Curators tapped Middleton, the university’s first African-American law professor, to serve as interim president after the resignation of Timothy M. Wolfe earlier this week following criticism of Wolfe’s handling of a series of racist incidents. Although the University is likely doing this to put a band-aid on the national PR nightmare they have on their hands right now, the sitting president’s plan sounds like a step in the right direction. Hopefully he can begin to make the campus a safe space for African American students again while he’s in the seat. Daniel Brenner/Columbia Daily Tribune via AP
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Mizzou Appoints African American Interim President — He Vows To Address Racial Tension
