Donald Trump Calls University of Missouri Leaders ‘Babies’ for Resigning
Source: New York Times
A week after officials at the University of Missouri resigned amid protests and claims of widespread racism, Donald J. Trump called those who stepped down babies and said he did not think that discrimination was a problem on the campus.
I think they sent the absolutely wrong signal when they resigned so sheepishly, Mr. Trump said in an interview with Yahoo News. It just showed such grotesque weakness and that just sent a signal to go out and do whatever you want to do, and now youre going to see this problem all over.
Months of tension at the university came to a head last week when Timothy M. Wolfe, the universitys president, resigned and the chancellor, R. Bowen Loftin, stepped down to a less prominent position.
Several incidents ignited the recent furor. Last month the Legion of Black Collegians, a student group, was rehearsing for a homecoming event and was interrupted by a white man who walked onstage shouting racial slurs. Swastikas have also been found scrawled on campus buildings and students said racism was widespread, leading the football team to threaten a strike.
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Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2015/11/19/donald-trump-calls-university-of-missouri-leaders-babies-for-resigning/?_r=0
elmac
(4,642 posts)like that Canadian senator Cruz threatening Obama yesterday, another spoiled rich brat.
yeoman6987
(14,449 posts)I think it is imperative that the DNC investigate that. I bet he has had numerous. Would that be the nail we need?
7962
(11,841 posts)These folks arent waiting for the nomination to pass
EL34x4
(2,003 posts)They wanted the Trump train derailed a long time ago.
As of now, nothing has surfaced except that Donald Trump employed a lot of females in executive positions and by most accounts, treated them well.
valerief
(53,235 posts)starroute
(12,977 posts)The job of those administrators involves maintaining the confidence of the students and faculty. And when they lose that, they need to go.
SpankMe
(2,977 posts)Republicans on Fox News today are all over Obama's comments about how Republicans are afraid of Syrian 3 year old babies. They're calling it an insult, disrespectful and an affront to the dignity of the universe.
But when Donald calls people names (babies, etc.) it seems to be OK.
UpInArms
(51,296 posts)as a privileged white male, I just would like to know wtf he has ever known of discrimination.
lark
(23,206 posts)God help us!
MBS
(9,688 posts). . .so in addition to the many ways that Trump is complete off-base, it also has to be said that the Deans at U Missouri were after the Chancellor long before the racial tension came to a head.
This article is behind a pay wall (but should be accessible via libraries), but here are some key paragraphs:
When R. Bowen Loftin announced his intention to resign as chancellor of the University of Missouri at Columbia this month, the decision was widely regarded as a surrender to student-led protests over race relations on the flagship campus. But Mr. Loftins downfall was also, if not exclusively, the culmination of a well-orchestrated coup led by nine deans who had worked for weeks to secure the ouster of a chancellor in whom they had lost confidence. Missouris deans describe Mr. Loftins tenure as a profile in autocratic leadership, where vindictiveness and ham-fisted decision-making were thinly masked by an affable and goofy public persona that won over students but never the universitys academic leaders.
. . .
It was soon after Mr. Loftins appointment, in 2014, that Missouris deans say they felt the first pangs of buyers remorse.At first, there were the little things, like the fact that the chancellor sometimes seemed more interested in his phone than in his colleagues. There was Mr. Loftins habit of calling the deans "essential middle management," a title that, while technically accurate, sounded like a disparaging dig.The deans cringed when the chancellor told them, "I can fire you," which he once said to the entire group and occasionally told the deans individually, according to their account. . .
. . .
The deans concerns, however, were less about the chancellors words and more about his approach to governing, which they called secretive and scattershot. They were blindsided, for example, by a controversial proposal to cut health-care subsidies for graduate students.
That decision was later reversed, but not before considerable turmoil on the campus. . .
. . .
Two weeks later, on October 9, the deans gathered in a boardroom at the university system offices for a meeting with Timothy M. Wolfe, who was then president."We indicated to President Wolfe that we believed our relationship with the chancellor could not be repaired and that he should be dismissed," the deans said.By this time, racial unrest was starting to bubble up on the flagship campus. . . Mr. Loftin had called the incident and others like it "totally unacceptable," but students criticized him for being insufficiently responsive.. . . In the deans view, the chancellors response was anemic, and it gave students and the public a glimpse at Mr. Loftins ineffectiveness. Racism is indeed a problem at Mizzou, the deans said, but the chancellors decisions on graduate-student benefits, including health-care coverage and reduced tuition stipends, had fomented the very resentment and distrust on which the protest movement fed.