The University of Missouri's president, Tim Wolfe, resigned Monday amid increasing concerns about his handling of racial incidents that have occurred on campus.
Wolfe announced Monday morning at a special meeting called by the Board of Curators, the university system's governing body, that he would step down immediately, according to the New York Post.
The resignation came after months of complaints about racial slurs and other slights on the system's overwhelmingly white campus in Columbia. At its peak, one student was on a hunger strike, others camped out in solidarity, faculty members canceled classes and 30 members of the football team threatened to boycott the rest of the season.
Earlier this morning, The Missouri Students Association formally called for Wolf's removal and released a letter on Twitter decrying the administration's silence after the 2014 shooting of Michael Brown and accused Wolfe of enabling a "system of racism" on the Columbia campus which had failed the students, according to The Washington Post.
We are publicly releasing our letter to the University of Missouri System Board of Curators. @umsystem @umcurators pic.twitter.com/CqsWMAZVwK
— M.S.A. (@MSAmizzou) November 9, 2015
Wolfe's decision came as a surprise to many, as he didn't make any mention of it in a statement he made on Sunday, according to USA Today.
"It is clear to all of us that change is needed," he said, noting that the university administration had been meeting "around the clock" on how to address the campus issues.
The group leading the protests, Concerned Student 1950, which alludes to the year the first black student was admitted to the university, referenced a "slew of racist, sexist and homophobic" incidents on the campus which include a white student climbing onto a stage while a group of black students were rehearsing a skit and started shouting racial slurs and a swastika found on a bathroom wall drawn with human feces.
A graduate student walk-out to support the protests was scheduled for later Monday and Tuesday.
