In response to ongoing civil unrest that has disrupted campus life and forced the ouster of two top administrators, a group of University of Missouri graduates have launched an effort to refute the claims being made by protesters. TruthMattersMU recently established a social media presence, punctuated by a press release issued Friday.
Its first campaign, called the #UNITYMU Initiative, is described as an effort to unite students and faculty by celebrating what they have in common instead of focusing on differences. Alumnus Russ Jones spearheaded the movement, lamenting that his alma mater has changed drastically since he graduated more than three decades ago.
Nov. 13, 2015For Immediate Release New #UnityMU Campaign Launched to Bring Healing, Unity to Mizzou#UNITYMU…
Posted by Truthmattersmu on Friday, November 13, 2015
“This is not the beloved Mizzou many know,” he said. “How are administrators, and the nation for that matter, supposed to take seriously issues of discrimination when the facts seem to say something very different?”
He went on to rebuke the idea “that student life in 2015 isn’t drastically better for minorities than it was in 1950,” pointing out that “silencing opinions which may differ from yours isn’t the way you give a voice to so-called marginalized students.”
Along with a call for unity, the group released a list of assertions regarding the campus revolt – including the belief that former President Tim Wolfe and former Chancellor R. Bowen Loftin were unfairly forced out of their respective positions.
Furthermore, the statement insisted that the First Amendment is under attack on the University of Missouri campus.
“Professor Melissa Click attempted to block a student photo journalist,” the press release stated, adding that the protests are “creating further division rather than embrac[ing] diversity.”
The protesters are redefining terms including racism, the group suggested, citing the admission of one protest leader that he lied about the presence of white supremacists on campus.
Do the University of Missouri protesters represent an attack on the First Amendment? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.