Columbia Campus Chief Promises Recovery as Former MU Prez Blasts Leadership

The interim chancellor of the University of Missouri- Columbia admitted the schools recent past has been “painful”, but promised the Columbia campus’s would recover.

” I know full well that what has happened here at Mizzou has shaken you. It’s shaken you deeply,” Interim Hank Foley said during his ‘ State of the University’ speech Wednesday afternoon.

Foley said the campus must change its culture to be more inclusive.

The MU campus in Columbia was stunned by student protests last November.

African American students said they did not feel safe on campus or even in the town of Columbia.

The protests drew national headlines when the school’s football team threatened a strike in alliance with the protesters.

The turmoil forced the resignation of the Columbia chancellor and the university president Tim Wolf.

Wednesday, the Columbia Tribune reported on an e-mail from Wolf.
He criticizes the school he once led.

“The University of Missouri is under attack and the leadership from the Board ( of Curators) on down is frozen”.

Wolf also said the alliance of the football team made matters worse, not better.

Foley did not take questions about Wolf’s remarks after he finished his speech.

Foley said MU needs to adapt to survive.

He asked students, employees, alums and Missouri residents for patience.

“I can’t rewind the tape. I can only keep pushing us forward. But I can assure you, we will recover,” he said.

Foley also announced graduate student teachers at MU would keep their current health care for one more year.

Those students would also receive raises over two year increasing their pay from $12,000 a year to $18,000.

Grad student complaints about the loss of thief insurance was one of the elements that sparked some of the protests last year.