Student Activism at MU: Voices of Change

The University of Missouri has long been a place where students gather not only to learn but to make their voices heard. Throughout its history, MU has seen students stand together to champion causes that shape the campus and the world beyond. This vibrant tradition of activism is now on display curated by the MU Student Unions in Mort's display case on the first floor of the MU Student Center through the end of January.

Demonstrating for Peace

Anti-War Protests

 

Advocating for Better Treatment of Minorities and Women at the University

After seven years of fighting MU in court, Gay Liberation won out. The struggle began in 1971 when the Gay Liberation group sought approval for their organization, which was denied by the Board of Curators. Courts ruled in favor of the Gay Liberation group citing that the Board of Curators denied the members’ rights to freedom of speech and association (Savitar 1978).

Members of Delta Gamma showed their support for women’s liberation in 1972 (Savitar 1994).

More than 700 students marched in 1974 in protest of the lack of minority faculty on campus (Missouri Alumnus Fall 1993).

Women protested peacefully in Peace Park in 1987. They were advocating for a woman’s right to bear their breasts and were fighting against the commoditization of women’s bodies (Savitar 1987).

In 1989 students protested the fact that the University of Missouri did not honor Martin Luther King Jr. Day (Missouri Alumnus Fall 1993).

During Homecoming, 200 students from the Legion of Black Collegians staged a peaceful protest to call attention to insensitivity towards minorities at the university (Savitar 1991).

In the wake of the Rodney King verdict in 1992 students joined protests in Columbia numbering 900 strong (Savitar 1992).

The National Pan Hellenic Council organized a sit-in at Jesse Hall.  This was in reaction to an article written in the MU Student News by a student of the Zeta Tau Alpha Sorority accusing black sorority members of tearing down philanthropy banners in Greek Town (Savitar 2003).

The 2015 movement “Concerned Student 1950” is about the year that black students were first admitted to the University.  Several instances of racism on campus sparked a series of protests in the fall of 2015.  A Homecoming Parade face-off between student protesters and MU System President Tim Wolfe heated up events.  Graduate student Jonathan Butler began a hunger strike in response to Wolfe’s reaction to racism on campus and the treatment of graduate students when their health insurance was suddenly revoked. Students camped out on the Quad in support of Butler.  Eventually, both UM System President Tim Wolfe and MU Chancellor R. Bowen Loftin resigned from their posts (MIZZOU Spring 2016).

Advocating for Campus Issues

In 1968 Professor William Allen organized a chalk-in where 1,500 students gathered to protest three students who were arrested and sentenced 45 days in jail for writing peace slogans in chalk on the sidewalk (Savitar 1994).

Students, faculty, and administration worked together to change the rules of intervisitation at the university so that guests of the opposite sexes could be allowed in student rooms between 12-5 pm any Saturday or Sunday and from 8-11 pm on Friday and Saturday nights.  However, the Board of Curators shot down this proposal.  Students protested with a sleep-in at MU Memorial Union (Savitar 1969).

Rallies began in 1970 against the War in Cambodia, the Kent State Massacre, and Vietnam, but by the end of May it had boiled down to a clash between students and administration. Chancellor John Schwada warned students that those who took part in such demonstrations were liable to discipline by the University. Thousands of students gathered in front of the Chancellor’s residence to protest and Dr. Bill Wickersham, pictured above, delivered students’ demands of the chancellor: they wanted him to make a statement explaining his position on the Vietnam War and Kent State. Dean Jack Matthews delivered a statement from the Chancellor demanding that students disperse. They did not and campus police were called in and students were arrested.  Eventually, students and the administration got together and agreed on a resolution that left it up to professors whether students could be released from courses to work for peace (Savitar 1970).

Throughout the late 1980s, students protested against the University’s investment in companies that supported apartheid South Africa.  The issue quickly escalated to become also about the freedom to protest on campus.  In protest of the University’s unwillingness to fully divest, students erected wooden shanties on the Quad, which became known as “Shantytown.”  The University responded by removing students and the shanties, via campus police, and students in turn rebuilt their shanties and continued protest. In 1988 the Board of Curators voted to fully divest in these holdings (Missouri Alumnus Fall 1994).

Hundreds of graduate students and faculty members protested throughout the 2015-2016 academic school year.  Resistance began after the University revoked insurance subsidies from the graduate students with only 12 hours' notice. Graduate students then began a fight to unionize that was tied up in the courts.