There may be no other single college in America that is a better example of the failures of being “woke” than the University of Missouri, more commonly known as Mizzou.
The latest embarrassment for the university comes from its attempt at a PR campaign featuring student athletes. The aim or the campaign was simple enough: Show that student athletes are more than the stereotypical jock. The school asked athletes who they are as a person.
But when the school made images using the photos of these athletes, something went wrong. The photos highlighting white female athletes included quotes saying what they want to be in the future.
“I am a future doctor,” reads the quote from Chelsey Christensen.
“I am a future corporate financer,” reads the quote from CJ Kovac.
But the images featuring African-American athletes don’t include information about their futures. Arielle Mack’s photo quote reads: “I am an African American woman.” Caulin Graves’ quote says, “I am a brother.”
This might not have been such a problem if there was a little more explanation. If they simply asked the students to finish the sentence, “I am a/an,” one might get more insight into the students. We would commend Graves for putting his family first.
But a video released with the images shows that the black students did talk about their futures, but that’s not what the school included.
Today, we will focus on the core values & various identities #Mizzou student-athletes hold.
Who are YOU as a person?
Use #NCAAInclusion to show that you are more than an athlete, coach or staff member.#MIZ | #ShowMe | #NCAAInclusion 🐯 pic.twitter.com/I8AfQbiAPy
— Mizzou Athletics (@MizzouAthletics) October 23, 2019
Graves did not simply say he “is a brother.” He also said he was an uncle “and a leader.”
Mack said she was “a future physical therapist” in addition to the quote included on her image. Another black student athlete said he was an electrical engineer. Why couldn’t those quotes be included on images to continue the theme?
After a swift backlash, Mizzou deleted its tweet featuring the athletes’ images and apologized.
Earlier we made a mistake when we posted a graphic about our student athletes. We apologize. Our intent was to provide personal information about our students, but we failed. We listened and removed the post. This video better represents our intent to celebrate our diversity. pic.twitter.com/dVZjrLZ254
— Mizzou Athletics (@MizzouAthletics) October 24, 2019
RedState’s Kira Davis included screenshots of the failed tweets in her article about the PR disaster, writing:
To recap: at Mizzou white student athletes are future doctors and business people. Black student athletes are…black. Poor Caulin Graves doesn’t even get to be black, just “a brother.” *insert laughy-cry emoji here*
Mizzou’s social justice troubles began in 2015, when it became the poster child for protests from students claiming their school was a hotbed of racism. During the protests, professor Melissa Click pushed a student journalist and threatened to call some “muscle” over. She was eventually fired and charged with assault.
The incident was embarrassing for the school, which saw a massive drop in admissions the following year. The drop in admissions led to a $32 million budget shortfall, which resulted in the closure of two dorms.
Earlier this year, the school was threatened with a loss of funding due to its lack of due process for students accused of sexual assault. Local media sneered at legislators’ attempts to provide basic fairness to murky he said/she said accusations by scoffing at the idea that an accused student deserved to see the evidence against him and to cross-examine his accuser.