Ken Berwitz
Well, well, well.
It turns out that not everyone on the University of Missouri football team agrees that they should strike until the school\’s President, Tim Wolfe, either resigns or is fired.
A Missouri Tigers playersaid Sunday night that the entire team is not united over the decision to stoppracticing until grad student Jonathan Butler ends his hunger strike.
“As much as wewant to say everyone is united, half the team and coaches — black and white –are pissed,” the player, who wished to remain anonymous, told ESPN.”If we were 9-0, this wouldn\’t be happening.”
The player, who iswhite, spoke on the condition of anonymity because coaches told the team not totalk to the media as they thought the situation “would blow overeventually.”
Butler began a hungerstrike last Monday, saying University of Missouri president Tim Wolfe shouldstep down after failing to respond to student concerns about racial tension inthe wake of several on-campus incidents.
The football playerindicated the team had been aware of Butler\’s hunger strike for several days.However, some black players didn\’t decide to take action until Butler met withsome players Saturday night.
“Not everyoneagrees with the decision [to stop all football activities],” the playersaid. “Most people are pissed, including the black guys [on theteam].”
Do we know this anonymous player is accurately representing the feeling among Missouri\’s football players and coaches? No we do not.
But I hope it is.
The idea that a university\’s football team – actually, if this source is accurate, part of a university\’s football team – can hold the school hostage and demand its President be removed, over several random incidents that he had nothing to do with and – let\’s be honest – neither he nor anyone else can possibly prevent, is beyond ridiculous.
Someone – maybe not even a student – screams a racial epithet from a truck? Without knowing who it was or whether the person was a student there, what is the school President supposed to do?
Someone puts up a swastika smeared with feces (which, let\’s keep in mind, some believe was a hoax; a set-up)? Again, without knowing who did it, what is the school President supposed to do?
Now: suppose President Wolfe – this cowardly milquetoast who, so far, has done nothing but apologize for these incidents as if he were the one screaming epithets and putting up feces-smeared swastikas – does resign. And suppose, a month later, another unidentified person on campus, who might or might not be a student, screams out a racial epithet or puts up a swastika? Will whichever University of Missouri sports team is playing at that time threaten to strike again until the new President resigns? Will Jonathan Butler go on another hunger strike?
It is hard to overstate the idiocy of what is happening at this school. And – this may be the most dispiriting part – it is not just at the University of Missouri, but at other colleges and universities around the country where students have been convinced that they are some kind of protected species who should be making demands every time their wiwoo sensibiwities are bruised.
Enough for God sake.
