....if not completely fabricated.
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College staff and students are terrified of being accused of racism. They know the tactics that will be used against them if they don't toe the party line. If you don't understand this, you don't know much about the current state of academia and identity politics.
Some fair points. But the media is primarily looking for a story, so they will always embellish it.
I said from the beginning we didn't have all the facts, and that certainly applied to me. Perhaps the president has done more than I thought he had, and perhaps this is just a small group of students looking for a cause. If that's the case, it will almost certainly go nowhere regardless of what the media thinks or says.
The faculty is not solely focused with the racial issues, there are other broader leadership concerns with Wolfe. That's one of the problems here: people are reading one article that refers to race and the football team and getting all riled up without understanding the broader issues in play. A consensus is building about Wolfe needing to resign because there is no confidence in him to lead Mizzou based on multiple issues. This didn't all blow up over a couple racial slurs (which would still be unacceptable btw), it's much worse than that. Here are multiple articles outlining the concerns, including faculty concerns with Wolfe and Chancellor Loftin:
- http://heavy.com/news/2015/11/tim-wo...io-age-photos/ (Check out the video where Wolfe comments on systematic oppression)
- http://www.columbiamissourian.com/ne...ecfaa9d5d.html
- http://m.columbiatribune.com/opinion...917531853.5417
- http://www.columbiamissourian.com/ne...d798TY.twitter
The faculty has not united behind the desire to remove Wolfe at this hour, but there is momentum building there and a lot of concerns building. I expect Wolfe to be gone by Tuesday now that the Governor and a US Senator have weighed in.
What? I never even said I supported all of their "demands." I still haven't found enough information about the situation up there to form a valid opinion on it. All I've said is that I support their right to protest and don't think they should have to be opinionless automatons just because they're on scholarship.
I also stated that the degree of unitedness suggests validity to their cause, although if its not as united as portrayed (and I don't necessarily think that one anonymous claim by one player trumps official statements from the coach and AD, but I guess it at least raises the possibility), that observation may not be valid.
If this is the case, though, then ultimately these things will be counterproductive and will actually lead to the kind of reactions you support.
I prefer to believe that most people have enough intelligence and common sense to understand they shouldn't believe everything they read and to approach most topics with some caution. Assuming this, unreasonable demands by groups like this and sensationalism by the media will work to their detriment and will still be beneficial ultimately.
The media will always try to find a story, even if it's a protest consisting of 2 people.
ANd that same paper laid out the time line. Loftin, 3 days after the second event, issued mandatory online classes for everybody. The whole issue with the football player is about racial issues. The only part of MIZZOU faculty that has been vocal is the english department. That's all.
I disagree with this. It's pretty obvious that in a case like this it's much easier to be on-record in support of the boycott than against it. Because of what was said earlier - the worst thing you can be accused of is being a racist or of being against racial reforms. It would take a brave soul to go on record against these protests. There's really no danger of being in support of them.
These are contributing factors the lack of confidence in Wolfe that you're seeing. The faculty will be moving on this soon, I promise you. As people "on the ground" understand, there is a lot more than racial incidents happening at Mizzou that are leading to the backlash against Wolfe. Much of this has happened in the past 90 days so the issues have a compounding effect.
We're going to get a playbook on how a University destroys its own athletic programs. I hope the right lessons will be learned by other schools.
If half the team and coaches are against it, but only one anonymous player is speaking out... why should we give that voice more weight than the people that are on the record? I'm not saying there is no truth to it, I'm sure there is some, but that point of view is likely grossly exaggerated (since it is not subject to further examination).
I'm not saying we should give it more weight. I'm not assuming half the team is against it just because an anonymous player said it. But I do believe the anonymous player is against it, and I'm sure there are probably others as well.
Basically, that report gives me pause when assuming the whole team is behind it, that's all.
Do you think this player did not go on record out of fear of being called a racist? I certainly do.
In this world a person with a differing view from the equality crowd is a racist. I thought these groups were supposed to be tolerant?
And before you say it I will go ahead and address it. This player didn't go anonymous out of fear of dividing the team because 30 other players already have done that. You know...the ones who have gone on record and posed for pictures