Interim UM System President Mike Middleton spoke at the National Press Club in Washington D.C. last night. He answered questions about the events that happened at MU last fall, and what is being done to address the racial issues on campus.
You can listen to the raw audio of the event here:
Middleton started by saying he does not believe MU is the only campus with racial issues, and that other schools should make sure not to look the other way when problems arise.
“Leaders must continuously assess their campus climate to ensure that race relations are in fact good or excellent,” Middleton said. “Likely they’re not as good as you think.”
Middleton explained that around the same time MU came into the spotlight for racial problems on its campus, many other issues were also brewing. Graduate students had just learned they would lose their health insurance, and MU Health Care was coming under fire for its ties to Planned Parenthood.
Middleton said he believes the combination of these issues, along with African American students feeling marginalized and ignored by their administration, is what caused students to take such drastic measures.
When asked about his thoughts on how students decided to take action against the MU administration, Middleton said he thinks they did a good job demonstrating nonviolent protest.
“It was a fairly respectful demonstration of frustration with their lived experience on the campus.” Middleton said.
Middleton was asked if free speech was compromised during the protests, referring to when students claimed public property as a “safe space” and didn’t allow journalists to cover the event. He responded that every situation has different circumstances.
“I think that we should all recognize the rights that we have,” Middleton said. “But we all should also understand how the exercise of those rights in every situation might make life uncomfortable for people in our community.”
The American Association of University Professors placed MU on its censure list on Saturday. This means that the association found the university guilty of violating academic due process when it fired Melissa Click for interfering with reporters covering the protests last fall.
A reporter asked Middleton if he believes the UM System Board of Curators acted appropriately in its decision.
“I think it was necessary at the time to do something because the university was in turmoil,” Middleton said. “And it did not appear as if that turmoil would die down unless something were done with professor Click.”
Middleton also spoke about what steps MU is taking to move toward equality. He said every UM System campus now has a chief diversity officer who reports directly to the chancellor, and a diversity, inclusion and equity task force was created to develop short and long term strategies to combat the racial inequality at MU and other UM System schools.
Middleton said there is much more work to be done, but he is hopeful for the future.