University of Missouri Authorities Apprehend Suspect Behind Social Media Threats

[garbon]

Pulling out separately.

I wonder if this was just a stupid kid doing it for the LOLs. Either way, what an idiot.

Also who knew that making a terrorist threat came with such a cheap bond.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/university-missouri-authorities-apprehend-suspect-behind-social-media-threats-n461311

University of Missouri police have apprehended a suspect accused of threatening black students and faculty on social media — the latest incident at a school on edge following weeks of racial tension.

Police identified the suspect Wednesday as Hunter Park, a 19-year-old sophomore at Missouri University of Science and Technology, which is part of the University of Missouri System.

Park, a computer science student, was taken into custody around 1:50 a.m. at a residence hall in Rolla, about 100 miles south of the flagship campus in Columbia, school officials said.

Park was arrested on suspicion of "making a terrorist threat" and transported to the Boone County Jail. His $4,500 bond was revoked, NBC station KSDK of St. Louis reported.

The Columbia campus has been roiled by racial unrest, forcing both university President Tim Wolfe and campus Chancellor R. Bowen Loftin to announce their resignations Monday.

University police said Tuesday that warnings were made on the anonymous social media sharing app YikYak and other platforms, with a threat to "shoot every black person I see."

No weapons were found during the investigation, police said.

In addition, a "phoned-in threat" was made earlier in the day to the Black Culture Center on campus. The building was locked down and searched, but nothing suspicious was found and there were no arrests, police said.

A few dorms on campus were seen to have security notices Tuesday night notifying visitors that only those with identification for the buildings would be allowed inside.

"Threats of violence of any kind are not tolerated," Missouri Science and Technology Chancellor Cheryl Schrader said in a statement. "As a campus, we are grateful that the situation did not escalate."

The campus green, which had been bustling this week with protesters calling for top officials to resign, was quiet Wednesday morning in the wake of the threat.

University leaders released a statement Wednesday afternoon calling the threats "reprehensible" and announcing a series of steps to bring calm back to the Columbia campus.

The effort will include counseling and "learning opportunities," including a Friday panel of faculty members who will discuss the week's events.

"The process of making our campus as inclusive as it must be will not be easy," the administrators wrote. "We have difficult conversations ahead, and we must all dedicate ourselves to learning together."

Black students at the mostly white Columbia campus say they've been taunted by white students using racial slurs, leading to protests on campus. On Oct. 24, a swastika was drawn with human feces on a dormitory wall.

The crisis drew national attention Saturday when black members of the University of Missouri's football team said they would boycott all team activities until Wolfe, who was accused of turning a blind eye, resigned.

Wolfe stepped down immediately after more than three years on the job. Loftin said he would exit by the end of the year.

Wolfe said he was to blame for failing to communicate with protesters and resigning was "the right thing to do."

Meanwhile, a second Missouri college student, identified as Connor B. Stottlemyre, 19, of Blue Springs, was being held for 24 hours for while campus police investigated allegations that he sent a racial threat via Yik Yak at Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville.

There have been no protests at that college, which isn't part opf the University of Missouri System. The Nodaway County Sheriff's Office said no connection to the unrest in Columbia had been established Wednesday night.

[garbon]

Also, I wonder if there will be new information about resignations:

http://blavity.com/threats-made-toward-black-students-at-the-university-of-missouri/

Despite the very real threats, not everyone is taking the students' safety seriously.

And if this professor will eventually get flak for offering a 'separate' lecture for black students.

However, some faculty members are keeping the safety of the students in mind.

[jimmy olsen]

Should a mod move all the posts from OTT on this topic to this thread?

[Eddie Teach]

Also, I wonder if there will be new information about resignations:

If there's a valid threat, it's up to the university administration to cancel classes. Otherwise, the professor is within his rights to treat the day as business as usual.

Now, if he doesn't allow black students to make up the test, that would be stupid from a pr standpoint.

[garbon]

Also, I wonder if there will be new information about resignations:

If there's a valid threat, it's up to the university administration to cancel classes. Otherwise, the professor is within his rights to treat the day as business as usual.

Now, if he doesn't allow black students to make up the test, that would be stupid from a pr standpoint.

Agreed though, I think email tone was a bit off. Of course, that's really the danger right now. I'm not sure as a staff member at that University, I would want to say anything via email right now.

Oh and I was behind the times.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/nov/11/dale-brigham-university-of-missouri-associate-prof/

University of Missouri associate professor resigns amid backlash after refusing to cancel exam

An associate professor at the University of Missouri has resigned following backlash after he refused to cancel an exam for students who claimed to feel unsafe, the latest twist in turmoil that is increasingly being seen as a threat to free speech on campus.

"If you don't feel safe coming to class, then don't come to class," Dale E. Brigham, an associate professor at the school's Department of Nutrition and Exercise Physiology, initially told students in an email, Campus Reform reported.

Mr. Brigham quickly made headlines for his stance, with many on social media calling for him to be fired.

According to screenshots posted online Wednesday of a second email from Mr. Brigham to his students, the exam has been canceled and he is resigning from his position.

"The exam is cancelled. Our students will be able to take the exam at an alternate date with no loss of points," the email read. "No one will have to come to class today. And, I am resigning my position."

The resignation — there was no immediate word Wednesday on when the university would accept it — was one of a series of events that have free speech and civil liberties advocates increasingly concerned about the atmosphere on the campus.

The previous week of racial turmoil already had led to the resignations of university President Tim Wolfe and Chancellor R. Bowen Loftin on Monday.

On Tuesday the campus police department sent an email to students telling them how to report "hateful and/or hurtful" speech, even if it isn't illegal, because the speakers could still be punished by the Office of Student Conduct.

The code's "harassment" provision defines that act as "unwelcome verbal or physical conduct" related to "actual or perceived membership in a protected class ... that creates a hostile environment."

The American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri said in a statement that "mistakenly addressing symptoms — instead of causes — and doing it in a way that runs counter to the First Amendment is not the wise or appropriate response."

The campus chapter of Young Americans for Liberty responded to the police solicitation by setting up a "free speech wall" on campus Wednesday.

"Basically, if your feelings are hurt, the police are going to crack down on whoever hurt your feelings," Ian Paris, the Missouri chapter's president, told The Associated Press. "I think that's terrifying, because I have opinions every single day that people find offensive or hurt their feelings because I disagree with them."

Also this week, a video that went viral showed an assistant professor in the communications department, who held a courtesy appointment with the school's highly regarded journalism school, soliciting force to stop student journalist Mark Schierbecker from covering a public demonstration.

Melissa Click told him "you need to go" repeatedly, trying to cover the camera lens with her hand, and scoffing "that's a really good one" at his correctly noting that this was public property.

[Martinus]

I read some reports that certain aspects of this story may be fabrications or blown out of proportion (for example, that there are no actual eye witnesses of the "shit swastika").

[Martinus]

I think the real problem is people losing jobs so quickly these days because of "Facebook outcry".

[garbon]

I think the real problem is people losing jobs so quickly these days because of "Facebook outcry".

I think that is a problem but no, I don't think that is the 'real' problem. As though racism is not a problem nor people making death threats.

[celedhring]

I read some reports that certain aspects of this story may be fabrications or blown out of proportion (for example, that there are no actual eye witnesses of the "shit swastika").

Slate has the police report on the shit swastika, with the officer writing down that he/she saw it.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2015/11/11/the_federalist_and_sean_davis_say_the_feces_swastika_at_mizzou_was_a_hoax.html

I know, Slate, but I don't think they will forge police reports.

[garbon]

I like that Slate notes all the sources of it potentially being a hoax - all the crazed right wing blogs.

[Syt]

That feces drawn swastika in the bathroom (perfect marriage of content and medium?) reminded me of an Oatmeal cartoon, and I wouldn't be surprised if it was a source for this claim:

http://theoatmeal.com/pl/minor_differences6/restroom

[garbon]

That feces drawn swastika in the bathroom (perfect marriage of content and medium?) reminded me of an Oatmeal cartoon, and I wouldn't be surprised if it was a source for this claim:

http://theoatmeal.com/pl/minor_differences6/restroom

That strikes me as a drawing by someone who never has spend time in a woman's restroom.

[celedhring]

I'm surprised that the environment can be so poisonous for minorities in a XXIth century uni campus, by the way. Some of the stuff that has come up to the light is truly shocking.

[Syt]

That feces drawn swastika in the bathroom (perfect marriage of content and medium?) reminded me of an Oatmeal cartoon, and I wouldn't be surprised if it was a source for this claim:

http://theoatmeal.com/pl/minor_differences6/restroom

That strikes me as a drawing by someone who never has spend time in a woman's restroom.

He may have exaggerated for comedic effect. He does that sometimes.

[garbon]

That feces drawn swastika in the bathroom (perfect marriage of content and medium?) reminded me of an Oatmeal cartoon, and I wouldn't be surprised if it was a source for this claim:

http://theoatmeal.com/pl/minor_differences6/restroom

That strikes me as a drawing by someone who never has spend time in a woman's restroom.

He may have exaggerated for comedic effect. He does that sometimes.

I'd note it is just plain wrong.

Only difference, I've ever seen (though admittedly it has been since my college days that I've been in a women's restroom) is that sometimes they were fancier with places to sit.