Loftin has been the public face of the University since he got here - whenever there's a public statement, it's from him.

And when the Email was sent out, it was from the Chancellor's office (again, all University employees rec'd it). But that's simply a delegation of responsibility issue within the University. Loftin is the public statement guy; Wolfe is an administrator. Why would it have made a difference who's friggen inbox the email came from?

Mostly, you pretty much already 'know' whatever it is you want to know. You're as interested in actual dialogue as the fools that essentially shouted Wolfe down when he gave his poorly phrased response to the systematic racism question.

What this pretty much shows is that you have to be a politician at pretty much all executive levels these days. To this point, nobody has given examples of any policies enacted or condoned by Wolfe or the University that would rise to the level of systematic racism. This is nothing more than Wolfe having done a poor job of making a group of pissed off 20 yr olds feel like they've been heard. If Wolfe were a better statesman, this doesn't happen. Frankly, I have no interest in career statesman holding every high-level state office but they'd at least give people like you the warm fuzzies.

Justification aside. Racial issues aside. Just about every particular of this incident aside...


What does this do for college athletes in general? I could see this being the first step in them starting a college athlete's player union. The university royally screwed up by letting it get to that level, because the precedence that has been set is frightening. Whether they were really the tipping point or not, the message that can be pulled from this incident is that, "We have the power and can start to make demands."

I think you just sent the least powerful man in the seven kingdoms to bed without his supper...

And Jonathan Butler specifically cited Mizzou's lack of presence/response to the Ferguson riots as a catalyst in his hunger strike.

This is absolutely on offshoot of the Ferguson bullshit.

A protest movement built on a justifiable homicide and a lie becomes a catalyst for yet another incident of mob rule.

Unless we have NFL aspirations and don't want to screw up our draft slot...

Yes and no. It sure helps to think like a politician, but he still has a job if he wasn't a lazy sack of shit that was hated by the entire university.

The president is a leader on campus, just like the Chancellor. He had enough sway to get some things changed and didn't. He had the misfortune of bowtie not being around too long, so he took more of the brunt.

People hated his guts and were looking for a good cause to get him the **** out. This wasn't the most ironclad thing ever, but it was enough to work so they used it.

He didn't lose his job because a kid called another kid the n word. He truly sucked at his job and they found a good cause to finally boot his ass.

You don't need to be a good politician to be good at your job. Uf you're gonna suck, you better be a damn good politician.

Maybe college athletes will realize next that they could destroy the NCAA if they so choose. I've always thought that was only a matter of time.

So it was just a witch hunt and matter of time before they could find something that would stick??

Holy. Shit.

They cited the Neo-Nazi protests? Jesus Christ these people are out to lunch.

I was on campus at the time and studying for some random admission exam. We went downtown to watch the rally. You know what the rally was? A rickety ass van with 5 people piling out who kinda stumbled down the street for a bit. And it's not as though the University had ANYTHING to do with it. It was down !@#$ing 9th street - it's a public road. It was a Constitutionally permissible event where all the proper procedures were followed.

And THAT'S proof of !@#$ing systematic racism at the University of Missouri?

Get out of here with this shit.

And as another detached general comment about the ****ed up nature of the situation:

What does it say about the state of academics and higher learning that the "tipping point" here on this man's tenure was the football team's refusal to play?

Yes and no. Not every instance is going to have people united like they were against the target(s) and no way in hell MU protests if they were at risk of missing out on a trip to Atlanta or a bowl berth.

None of those things were gonna happen so it was like a **** it why not thing.

This could lead to more sports programs considering somethibg like this in the future, at least.
The end result still would probably be the same, but no way it would happen this fast without the football team.

Protests? No change.
Various letters to the newspaper? No change.
Votes of no confidence from academic departments? No change.
Hunger strike from a student? No change.
More protests? No change.
Etc..
Etc..
Football team gonna refuse to play? FIRE THAT ****ER!

I assume that you ignoring the rest of their issues means that you find nothing wrong with the rest.

Not that it wasn't apparent, but this just solidifies that College Football is above all else. If a College Football team strikes, its over, the University will give into whatever the team demands because they can't lose that money. Regardless if MU is a steaming pile of offensive ineptitude and their record is even bad, doesn't matter, you band together, you complain, you'll get what you want. It will reach other Universities, it will become a common practice. Football players are higher than everyone else, see in point Greg Hardy. If you can play well, if you make me money, you will play, and I will keep the suspensions and media at bay while you make me money.

And do what then?