Black Mizzou football players go on strike

He gets diplomatic immunity.

 

Now here's a Missouri alumnus with an interesting perspective on the situation:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/11/us/an-original-missouri-concerned-student-1950-speaks-at-age-89.html

 

As re: the journalism professor who's been called the n-word "too many times to count" ... I have already stated my skepticism regarding her claims about those things that happened on campus. However, assuming the white-guy-in-a-pickup-with-Confederate-flag story is true ... Just how in the hell does that speak to racism AT THE FRIGGIN' UNIVERSITY?

 

No. It's not relevant.

 

How many white faculty members get terminated as a result of this protest?

The students demand that black faculty levels increase from current 3% to 10% of faculty in 2 years.

Realistically this cannot be accomplished without terminating whites to hire blacks. Attrition and voluntary separations won't give the school enough openings to satisfy black student demands. Is there a problem with firing whites because they are white to redress discrimination?

 

If that was President Wolfe's vehicle, it suddenly all makes sense.

 

Legally, I would assume not. You'd have a certain percentage with tenure you can't touch, a certain group whose contracts are up for renewal and adjuncts that you can do with what you please.

 

Dude..

 

The faculty at the Columbia campus numbers around 2,200. A little bit less than half of those are either tenured or are on the tenure track; the remainder are either full-time instructors or are adjuncts. Stipulating that the demand is actually met, substantial growth (short-term) in the proportion of African-Americans in the Columbia faculty will be driven largely, perhaps almost exclusively, by hires in these latter categories.

The good news for the university, with respect to its finances, is that faculty in these latter categories tend to be less-qualified and command far less in the way of pay/benefits. So students wind up paying the same (perhaps more!) to be taught by a less-qualified faculty. But it'll be more racially representative. Hey, two outta three ain't bad!

 

Can we take a look at the incident that appears to be the spark here?

Student body President Payton Head says he was "continuously" called the "N" word by some guys riding in the back of a pickup truck, as he walked through campus.

His first person account is here:



Newspapers from the campus paper, to the papers in St. Louis and Kansas City, to the Washington Post and Boston Globe have written about the incident.

Now, my question isn't just, "did it happen", but did any of the media outlets who spoke to him actually report on the incident?

Did any reporter find a witness to the event? Was Head alone, or with someone?

The Facebook post doesn't say, but he Missourian says "a friend" called the police:

Head said a friend called MU Police.

The police have reached out and spoken to Head, MU spokesman Christian Basi said Monday evening.

MSA president speaks out about racist incident

Was the friend present? What's his/her name? Has any reporter spoken to him/her?

Is it even true that anyone called the police? It's not clear to me from what I read.

Here's what the Washington Post says:

A spokesperson for the campus police said that the incident was reported to have happened near campus, not on it. The Columbia Police Department does not have a report of that nature by Head, according to a spokesperson there.

What the student body president did after he was called the n-word — again

That just raises more questions. Where exactly did this happen? Was it on or near campus?

Is there any fuller account of the incident?

Has any reporter asked Head exactly where it happened? Do we know what time it happened? Has anyone asked him to put them in touch with potential witnesses? Do we have a description of the pickup truck? How many guys were there in the back of the pickup truck? Do we have a description of the guys who screamed at him?

Maybe this did happen, but the lack of reporting is stunning. Is no one interested in the details?

And, this isn't something that happened 40 ears ago. Why are we more determined to nail down the details in Ben Carson's 40 year old story than in Payton Head's two month old story?

 

The Missourian puts the incident oh Hitt St., which runs through campus (meaning it could have happened either on or off of campus), but it doesn't quote him saying so:

Then on Friday night, Head said he was walking down Hitt Street when a pickup passed him and a passenger repeatedly shouted racial slurs at him.

"Some guys in the back of a pickup just started yelling the 'N-word' at me," Head said Monday.

MSA president speaks out about racist incident

And, they have the anonymous friend calling the police:

Head said a friend called MU Police.

The police have reached out and spoken to Head, MU spokesman Christian Basi said Monday evening.

There's no indication that they talked to the friend, or even know who he is.

The Kansas City Star says he was with a friend when it happened, but that info appears to come from their reading of the Missourian article, which never says that:

Payton Head was walking down the street with a friend last week near the University of Missouri campus in Columbia when something ugly happened to him.

“Some guys in the back of a pickup just started yelling the n-word at me,” Head, who is African-American, told the Columbia Missourian.

MU student body leader Payton Head writes emotional response to being called the n-word

 

It doesn't matter if it happened. He remains black.