As proud Alumni of the University of Missouri- Columbia we all have worked to raise the profile of the university that we love.  The recent racist hate crimes at Mizzou are shameful, but not as shameful as the dismissive statements and victim blaming that President Tim Wolfe has issued in response to these hate crimes. 

For the President of Mizzou to tell the student group, Concerned Student 1950, that "systemic oppression is that you don't believe that you have the equal opportunity to succeed" while presiding over an institution literally built with slave labor, is not only shameful but also confirms that President Tim Wolfe is unfit to continue to serve as the University of Missouri System President.  To deny that the systemic oppression of African Americans occurs in our society is to stake a claim upholding the continued systemic oppression of people of color.  Mizzou has a checkered past regarding the oppression of people of color, and it is inappropriate for the University that I graduated from, & that I truly love despite its imperfections, to tolerate these dangerous statements from its President. 

At best these statements show that President Wolfe does not understand Mizzou & Missouri's history, the systemic oppression that African American's face in this country, and that he would rather deny the existence of this history of systemic oppression, than confront the uncomfortable reality that much of the economic privilege of this country and university was created through the subjugation, oppression and murder of people of color.  At its worst it is undeniable that these statements put the 7% of current Mizzou students who are black at risk, by dismissing the seriousness of these hate crimes and sending the message that hate on the Mizzou campus is acceptable. 

This year hundreds of unarmed people of color have been gunned down in the streets, numerous churches have been burned, and the prayerful have been massacred in their places of worship.  These hate crimes have occurred in addition to the mass shootings that have regularly plagued our nation's higher educational institutions.  President Tim Wolfe's statements have endangered the lives of the thousands of African American Students at Mizzou and his resignation will be the first step in addressing this serious and dangerous situation.