By Lance Lambert / Dayton Daily News, Ohio/TNS
THE chain of events that has embroiled college campuses in the wake of protests at the University of Missouri could have far-reaching impacts, including pushing administrations to move more swiftly to address race relations and take student demands more seriously.
Some even think it could ignite an activist era on college campuses—something that hasn’t happened for decades.
“I’m old enough to remember the 1960s, when several presidents lost their jobs over Vietnam War protests,” said E. Gordon Gee, president of West Virginia University and former Ohio State University president.
When Gee was a law student at Columbia University, he says the school’s president stepped down after a series of protests, including a student takeover of a campus building.
Protests last week at Missouri led to the resignation of its president, whom students characterized as slow to act on racial issues. The protests hit a crescendo when the school’s football team threatened a boycott in support of a graduate student on a hunger strike.
In addition to an uptick in activism nationally, the protests could lead administrations listening more closely to their students.
“We talk to students on a constant basis, and we are constantly working on the climate here,” Wright State University President David Hopkins said. “It’s got to be about the students.”
Student protests were held at Wright State and Antioch College on Thursday.
Some former and current college officials say they could see the Missouri protests empowering student-athletes to use their leverage during future disputes.
Meanwhile, a few activists told this newspaper that they believe the events of last week will provide more momentum to BlackLivesMatter. That movement grew to national prominence through a series of events last year—most notably the police shooting of unarmed black man in Ferguson, Missouri, and the riots that followed.
Listening is key
Many student protesters in Ohio want to see more black students on campus. Nearly 13 percent of Ohioans are African Americans, yet on most campuses they make up a smaller percentage. For instance, blacks make up 2.9 percent of the student body at the University of Dayton, 6.7 percent at Wittenberg University, 9.5 percent at Miami University and 12.1 percent at Wright State.
Brittany Bibb, a fifth-year marketing major at the University of Cincinnati, said the school doesn’t admit enough black students, and the ones who are admitted don’t get “equal treatment.” That’s why a group she’s involved with, Irate 8, has provided the university with a list of demands.
“We want to see change—now,” Bibb said.
Much of the criticism that former Missouri president Tim Wolfe received was for not addressing student complainants sooner, or in a serious manner.
The protests at Missouri began as a result of the university cutting health care benefits for graduate students. However, anger grew after black students said they experienced episodes of “racial violence.”
On one occasion last month, student protesters stopped Wolfe’s car during a parade. The president’s driver attempted to drive around them. Wolfe eventually lost support on campus, including from deans, academic departments and student government.
National higher education experts have written that Wolfe, who came from a business background, addressed the situation more as a business manager than a university president.
“Business operates differently than universities do,” Gee said. “When a CEO makes a decision it happens immediately. When I make a decision, I then have to go out and campaign for it.”
Local college officials wouldn’t judge Wolfe’s handling of the situation, but many of them say schools need to take students demands “seriously.”
“University administrations have to be attentive to what students are saying. You should be listening all the time,” said Daniel Curran, president at the University of Dayton. “That’s one of the keys at UD; students know they can talk to university administration.”
A student recently wrote an editorial in the UD student newspaper, complaining that calling the off-campus student neighborhood a “ghetto” is offensive toward minority students.
Curran said the provost met with the student the next day to hear her thoughts on the topic.
Curran said more is expected of universities today.
“I think universities have a totally different set of demands than 20 years ago,” he said. “The demands come from all levels, from federal and state government, compliance issues, expectations from perspective students and families.”
Money talks
At Missouri, students spent weeks protesting and calling for the president’s resignation. But it was only hours after the football team threatened to boycott a game that Wolfe stepped down.
The football team added an important element to the protest: money.
If the university hadn’t fielded a team Saturday for its game against Brigham Young in Kansas City, it reportedly would have lost about $1 million.
“They (student-athletes) underestimate their power to make change, but that’s nothing new,” said Keith Byars, a Dayton native and former OSU and NFL player. “If you go back to the Vietnam War, and Kent State and during the turbulent times during the ‘60s, there was a whole lot of student protest going on, not just Vietnam War and civil rights.
“They just took a page out of history. So I’m glad they know their history, and know there is strength in numbers.”
Andy Schwarz, an economist who analyzes the economic impact of athletes, says this event demonstrates the power of athletes.
Schwarz doesn’t expect an uptick in student-athlete protest. Instead, he says this event will serve as a successful model for how to execute a boycott and how to “hit them where the money is at.”
If there were to be student-athlete protest in the future, Schwarz argues, that it might be to improve their financial situation, such as the move last year when football players at Northwestern attempted to unionize.
“I think it’s a last resort,” Schwarz said. “Hopefully, courts realize athletes have the same rights as everyone else.”
Gerry Faust, a Dayton native and former football coach at Notre Dame, doubts the players he coached would have done something like the Missouri football team did last week.
“When I was coaching and teaching it was different era,” Faust said. “I’m against union on the college level. You aren’t there to make money. But to get an education, that will help you in life, Or go into pro sports and make a good living for you and your family.”
Local protests
Protests were held on campuses nationwide last week, including Boston College, Yale and Michigan. Students at Wright State and Antioch College were two local colleges that had noticeable demonstrations.
At WSU, several dozen students marched through campus to decry “white privilege” and a “culture of mistreatment” toward black students. Among their stops was the administrative offices, where they demanded that Hopkins meet with them to discuss rights for African American students.
Hopkins agreed to meet with the students Thursday.
Meanwhile, about 100 Antioch College faculty and students gathered Thursday to point out that racism exists on their campus and to support the students at Missouri.
The WSU protesters said they were there to support their peers in Missouri and to raise awareness for “institutionalized racism” at Wright State.
Administrators listened to the WSU students, but some questioned the protest, including Emily Gillespie, an 80-year-old alumna who lives in Dayton.
“Are they protesting to be in the paper and on the airwaves, or to make things better with good ideas?” Gillespie said. “I went to Wright State in late ‘60s and early ‘70s and I had no problem as an African American woman. I even had teachers go out of their way to help.”
Demands at UC
The University of Cincinnati has been the site of these types of events over the past few months. While students were on summer break, UC gained national notoriety after a campus police officer shot and killed Samuel DuBose, a black man who was stopped off campus.
When students returned to campus, a group called Irate 8 began pushing for changes. Last month the group provided the administration at UC with a list of demands.
“One of the things we want to see is the doubling of black students on main campus over the next three years, and increasing the number of African American faculty,” UC student Bibb said.
Soon after, the group started to receive backlash from students—mostly through an anonymous website called Yik Yak. That included one comment that said, “I don’t know if I have enough rope for all the Irate 8.”
The university was able to track down the commentor, who turned out to be a UC student. Hamilton County is pursuing the case, but the university wouldn’t tell this newspaper if it was pursuing internal discipline, citing privacy laws.
The UC group’s demands are similar to those made by Missouri students. However, Bibb says there is one important difference between UC and Missouri: leadership.
“I think the difference between our movement and the movement over at Mizzou is that our administration is a little more receptive, so (President Santa) Ono has praised us publicly, and we are working with our administration to get things done. But there is still more work to do,” Bibb said.
Adam Clark, an associate professor of theology at Xavier University, says it’s possible that the events in Missouri will give groups like Irate 8 momentum, and help to solve racial problems.
Clark also says the events in Missouri are part of a larger “Ferguson effect,” which has brought discrimination toward African Americans into the spotlight.
“These students realized their power,” Clark said. “The hunger strike, you don’t hear that a lot with millennial activists—either I die or this guy gets removed.
“And they brought the football team along, which affected the commerce. It still would probably be going on if commerce wasn’t affected.”