They shouted their outrage through megaphones. Last month black students at the University of Missouri’s flagship campus blocked the homecoming parade to voice their concerns about racism, how they felt unwelcome on their own campus. "It is our duty to fight for freedom," they chanted, echoing the well-known activists’ refrain. "It is our duty to win."
This week brought a dramatic outcome. Students who had demanded a change in leadership got it when two top administrators stepped down. By all accounts, the protesters won.
Yet that victory is complicated. "Two kings’ heads rolled," as one professor toldThe Chronicle, but the campus remained largely as it was before: a veritable town of almost 35,000 students from different backgrounds, with various understandings of diversity, power, and how to get along. The university announced changes — including plans for a diversity officer and mandatory diversity training — even as it responded to threats of violence. One student said the recent protests were "just the beginning." He need not look far to see that short-term victories don’t guarantee much.
Read more at The Chronicle of Higher Education: http://chronicle.com/article/When-Pursuing-Diversity/234190