University of Missouri president Tim Wolfe resigns amid protests

(ABC News) — University of Missouri President Tim Wolfe resigned today amid protests over alleged racial injustice on campus.

Wolfe made the announcement at a Board of Curators meeting at the Columbia, Missouri, campus, saying he takes “full responsibility for inaction that has occurred.”

“My motivation in making this decision comes from love,” he said. “I love M.U. Columbia, where I grew up, and state of Missouri. I have thought and prayed about this decision. It’s the right thing to do.”

Video courtesy of ABC News

The ConcernedStudent1950 protest organization, which says it has represented every black student at the university since 1950, when the first black student was admitted, released a list of demands Oct. 20 that included Wolfe’s removal, as a part of a protest over the way the university handles racial harassment.

“Why did we get to this very difficult situation?” Wolfe said today at the meeting. “It is my belief we stopped listening to each other. We didn’t respond or react.”

“Change comes from listening, learning, caring, and conversation. We have to respect each other enough to stop yelling at each other and start listening, and quit intimidating each other through either our role or whatever means that we decide to use. Unfortunately, this has is not happened and that is why I stand before you today and I take full responsibility for this frustration and I take full responsibility for inaction that has occurred,” Wolfe said.

“I’d ask everybody from students to faculty, staff to my friends, everybody, use my resignation to heal and start talking again to make the changes necessary and let’s focus on changing what we can change today and in the future, not what we can’t change which is what happened in the past,” he said. “I truly love everybody here and the great institution, and my decision to resign comes out of love, not hate.”