Protests erupt in U.S. universities amid racial tension

Protests broke out this week in various universities across the United States as tensions boiled over in the wake of what students called racial insensitivity of university administrations.

After weeks of racially charged protests on campus, Tim Wolfe, University of Missouri system president, resigned on Monday after being besieged by student protestors who accused the university leadership of enabling racial tensions.

The protests lasted for weeks and came from almost the whole campus, including a hunger strike by a graduate student.

However, only after the news came out that at least 30 African-American football players said over the last weekend that they would not play till Wolfe step down did the protests turn from a local news into a national one.

Missouri protests broke out after the student government president of the university claimed that a group of people once shouted racial slurs at him. Meanwhile, members of a African-American student association also reported that a white student had shouted slurs at them.

In a confrontation between Wolfe and African-American students during a homecoming parade on Oct. 10, Wolfe reportedly refused to address the students, leading to criticism that the university leadership acted slowly in response to racial tensions on the University of Missouri's flagship Columbia campus, which has a high proportion of white students.

Also, at Yale University, protests broke out earlier this month after African-American students complained about the administration's insensitivity with regards to racially offensive Halloween costumes.

At the University of California, Los Angeles in October, protestors marched on campus after some students wore blackface to a Kanye West-themed fraternity party. Endit