Students at the University of Missouri fear for their safety after death threats through social media. It has been an emotional racial roller coaster at the main campus of the University of Missouri. On “Yik-Yak,” which is a relatively new social media, (very popular among college students) several individuals wrote death threats to minority students. “I’m going to stand my ground tomorrow and shoot every black person I see,” “Well tomorrow mizzou will really make national news,” and “Don’t go to campus tomorrow” were some of the statements found on “Yik-Yak” that sparked major fear in students from the University of Missouri; because “Yik-Yak” is completely anonymous individuals hide under the platform the medium provides and express whatever they want.
School officials took every threat very seriously and two campus buildings were put on lockdown including the Black Culture Center. Reports say members of the KKK were on-site circulating and students were very vocal about not feeling safe in their college campus. Several hours later official gave “the all clear” confirming there was no immediate threat. Racial tensions at the University of Missouri have reached a boiling point. Students went on a hunger strike protesting against the way the school has handled racial situations on campus and football players also protested by not playing; both groups demanded the president of the University of Missouri to resign.
Moreover, Tim Wolfe, president of the University of Missouri resigned from his position over the handling of what students call institutional racism on campus. Wolfe stated the motivation for making such decision comes from love and takes full responsibility for the university’s horrible handling of intense racial incidents in the past and hopes that his resignation starts the healing of the university and the community.