A group of University of Missouri students concerned about race issues on campus showed up at UM System President Tim Wolfe’s office Tuesday morning, calling for his resignation.
Students also set up tents near Traditions Plaza on Monday night and said they will camp there until Wolfe is removed from his position.
DeShaunya Ware, one of the students who slept on the quad Monday night, said students are calling for Wolfe’s removal because they think he has been negligent about race issues on MU’s campus.
“As long as Tim Wolfe is UM System president, we will be here,” Ware said.
Students also are camping to show support for Jonathan Butler, a graduate student who started a hunger strike Monday.
“During this hunger strike, I will not consume any food or nutritional sustenance at the expense of my health until either Tim Wolfe is removed from office or my internal organs fail and my life is lost,” Butler wrote in a letter to the UM Board of Curators.
Butler and the student campers are part of Concerned Student 1950, a group of 11 that protested by blocking the progress of a car Wolfe was riding in during MU’s Homecoming parade last month. Students criticized Wolfe for not doing something when the protesters were removed from the parade route.
Members of the Forum on Graduate Rights, a nonuniversity student group that formed in August to advocate for graduate student issues, on Tuesday read a statement of support for Butler to Wolfe and MU Chancellor R. Bowen Loftin outside University Hall.
In a statement, Wolfe said he respects Butler’s right to protest but hopes he will choose a new approach.
“It is extremely concerning when any of our students puts their health and safety in harm’s way. I sincerely hope that Mr. Butler will consider a different method of advocating for this cause,” Wolfe said in the statement.
Wolfe offered to comment on student concerns Tuesday morning, but students with Concerned Student 1950 said they only wanted his resignation.
Wolfe also said creating an ongoing dialogue about the racial climate on all four campuses is important. After receiving an email from Butler about student concerns related to the Homecoming demonstration, Wolfe set up a meeting with Concerned Student 1950.
Abigail Hollis said she and the other student protesters were not satisfied after their meeting with Wolfe and noted he did not address their list of demands.
Ware said protesters did not expect violence during their Homecoming demonstration, which aimed to draw attention to race issues at the university. Parade watchers can be seen on video positioning themselves between the protesters and Wolfe’s car, and police stepped in to remove the students.
“For some of us, we felt like we were on the streets of Ferguson,” Ware said.
Students stopped by Monday night to support the group, with some bringing bottled water and extra blankets.
Graduate student Kristofferson Culmer described Butler as thoughtful, adding that his hunger strike shows “the level the situation has gotten to.”
“This is not a person throwing a tantrum,” Culmer said. “This is a guy saying, ‘I’m not going to eat. I’m going to cause harm to my own body.’ ”
Students with Concerned Student 1950 will continue to camp out while taking shifts during the day so they can attend classes.
Hollis said anyone is welcome to join the campout.
In a statement, Board of Curators Chairman Donald Cupps said the board will continue to work with all four campuses to share ideas for addressing race issues.
“As board members and parents we are concerned about the health and safety of our students,” Cupps said in a statement. “I hope Mr. Butler will reconsider and will choose other ways to encourage positive change.”
Students Tuesday recommended Wolfe set up a meeting with Butler and the curators.