COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Around 150 protesters have gathered on the University of Missouri campus in Columbia as part of ongoing demonstrations over matters of race and discrimination at the college.

 

For months, black student groups have complained of racial slurs and other slights on the overwhelmingly white campus, and they’re now calling for President Tim Wolfe to step down. Student groups and black members of the football team are calling for Wolfe to step down over the way he has handled matters of race and discrimination on the campus, and one black graduate student is on a hunger strike.

Those gathered late Sunday near Jesse Hall prayed for the hunger-striking student, among other things. They also chanted, sang songs and read a Bible verse. Organizers at one point called student-athletes forward to lead a prayer. At least 20 tents were set up, and many planned to camp out overnight amid temperatures that had dropped into the low 40s. Students huddled together, wrapped in blankets.

Two graduate student organizations at the University of Missouri are calling for walkouts in solidarity with protesters who want the system president to resign. The Steering Committee of the Forum on Graduate Rights and the Coalition of Graduate Workers called Sunday for the actions. The organizations say walkouts by student workers on Monday and Tuesday will send a message of support for protesters seeking the removal of President Tim Wolfe.

The group Concerned Student 1950 and black members of the football team are calling for Wolfe to step down over the way he has handled matters of race and discrimination at the flagship school of the four-campus system. One black graduate student is on a hunger strike. That student, Jonathan Butler, has also cited the removal of graduate student health care subsidies as a concern.

Wolfe has given no indication he intends to leave the position, but he issued a statement Sunday saying that “change is needed.” The graduate committee criticized Wolfe’s statement, saying he and the administration are doubling down on “business as usual.”

The governing body of the University of Missouri system has set a special meeting amid the ongoing protests. The Board of Curators announced in a statement it will meet Monday at 10 a.m. on the system’s Columbia campus. According to an agenda provided in the statement, part of the meeting will be closed to the public. The statement says Missouri law allows the group to meet in a private “executive session” to discuss topics such as privileged communications with university counsel or personnel matters.

A university system spokesman didn’t immediately respond to questions about whether the group would address the status of University of Missouri System President Tim Wolfe. Wolfe has been the target of protests by students, including 32 black football players who announced they will not participate in team activities until he is removed. One black graduate student is on a hunger strike.

The chairman of a Missouri House higher education committee says University of Missouri System President Tim Wolfe should resign. Poplar Bluff Republican Steve Cookson said in a statement Sunday that Wolfe “can no longer effectively lead” and should leave his post. The GOP lawmaker says the recent events are just the latest problem at the University of Missouri system, which he says has been “slipping behind over the last few years in everything from faculty productivity, to fiscal health … to national rankings.”

A former Democratic state lawmaker and former chairman of the University of Missouri’s Board of Curators defends President Tim Wolfe’s campus leadership. Longtime lawmaker Wayne Goode said Wolfe is “one of the best managers I’ve ever worked with.” Goode also said Wolfe has “very strong support on the board,” though he declined to indicate whether he had spoken with anyone on the board or with Wolfe.

Missouri Governor Jay Nixon says the University of Missouri must address concerns over “racism and intolerance.” The Democratic governor issued his statement on Sunday. Nixon’s statement says the concerns must be dealt with so that the school is “a place where all students can pursue their dreams in an environment of respect, tolerance and inclusion.”

U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill says the University of Missouri Board of Curators needs to “send a clear message” to the students at the Columbia campus that they’ll address racism. McCaskill, a graduate of the state’s flagship campus, said in a statement Sunday that she’s “confident my university can and will do better in supporting an environment of tolerance and inclusion.”