Missouri's president resigned Monday over the handling of racial incidents.
Normally we use this space to talk about life at Ohio University and in Athens.
But over the weekend, we, like many college students throughout the U.S., were watching news out of Columbia, Missouri, where tensions rose after University of Missouri students there demanded the resignation of Mizzou’s president, Tim Wolfe.
The events of the last 72 hours are hardly the beginning of that story. At least, throughout this fall, Wolfe demonstrated an unwillingness to work with a concerned student body that has seen a number of public racist incidents. The school itself, which only began admitting black students in 1950, has a history of racism and intolerance toward black students, too.
Wolfe capitulated to those student demands Monday by announcing his resignation. We were relieved and encouraged by Wolfe’s stepping down.
It reinforces the belief (which we think is correct) that students are the backbone of higher education and that they deserve to have more input on the direction their universities take.
We don’t expect the movement at Mizzou to stop anytime soon. Nor would we want it to.
Sporting an array of supporters, notably graduate student Jonathan Butler, who went on a week-long hunger strike, the Mizzou football team and many faculty members, we hope the university’s demonstration of strength in numbers continues until real change is achieved in Columbia and elsewhere.
If students were able to incite palpable change at Mizzou, OU students may want to take note on the movements taking place outside of social media and on the grounds of college campuses, as they have for decades. The students at Mizzou weren’t listened to by default — they demanded they be heard. That’s passionate action we support.
Editorials represent the majority opinion of The Post's executive editors: Editor-in-Chief Emma Ockerman, Managing Editor Rebekah Barnes and Digital Managing Editor Samuel Howard. Post editorials are independent of the publication's news coverage.
