COLUMBIA — In a strongly worded letter, the MU interim vice chancellor for inclusion, diversity and equity told members of Concerned Student 1950 on Thursday to set aside their demands and work collaboratively.
Interim Vice Chancellor Chuck Henson was responding to a revised list of demands the students made during campus protests last fall. The revised list, unveiled Wednesday on Twitter, included more details about fulfilling the group's call for more diverse faculty, more student resources and targeted funding.
Henson's response took issue with what appeared from the group's online presentation to be an uncompromising, somewhat unrealistic approach.
"If you sincerely want better relationships, the time for demands, threats and arbitrary deadlines is over — you don't need them," he wrote in the letter.
Henson also made these points:
- In relationships, there is no place for demands because there is no need for demands.
- He has invited group members to meet him, but thus far, they have not met.
- Had they accepted his invitation to meet face-to-face, they would already know the answers to most of the issues raised in their recent communication.
- He and others are already working on almost all of the issues raised in the communication.
- There are things, such as hiring faculty or staff or admitting students based on protected characteristics to meet a numerical target, that will not and cannot be done. Some are against state and federal law.
- They would also know that a group within his division is already looking for input to address their concerns.
UM System Interim President Mike Middleton echoed Henson's language in an emailed response to the revised demands. "The time for demands has passed," he said.
He encouraged students to be "part of the solution" by engaging with The Working Group, a series of weekly meetings with student leaders sponsored by the Chancellor's Diversity Initiative. The purpose is to share with students what the administration is doing to achieve inclusion.
Concerned Student 1950 maintains that six of the eight demands released in October have not been met. The other two demands, which called for Tim Wolfe's resignation and for a hand-written apology by the former UM System president, have been resolved by virtue of Wolfe's resignation.
Members expressed frustration that after nearly four months, the university "fails to display legitimate urgency" to make sure the demands are met entirely.
The group tweeted: "Be clear, these demands are not to be seen as 'request,' but obligatory to addressing and dismantling institutional racism on our campus."
“We will remain committed to ensuring our demands are met by any means necessary,” the statement said.
Both administrators took issue with the claim that no progress had been made.
"We have already begun the very important work of making our campuses more diverse, equitable and inclusive," Middleton said in his email.
In one of the expanded demands, Concerned Student 1950 stated it wants a statue of Lloyd Gaines placed on Mel Carnahan Quadrangle. The civil rights activist and law student disappeared in 1939 shortly after winning a Supreme Court case that led MU to admit its first class of black law students.
Among the other demands are a racial awareness workshop requirement, expansion of the Gaines/Oldham Black Culture Center and a panel to interview and hire candidates for the Office of Minority Students staff.
Supervising editor is Jeanne Abbott.
