Was Mizzou’s President Forced Out Over Wildly Exaggerated Claims?

Scott Greer Contributor
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The University of Missouri — the college currently engulfed in a racially-tinged media firestorm — was apparently invaded by time-traveling Klansmen Tuesday night.

Mysterious men in pickup trucks surrounded black students. Active shooters were reported all over campus. Student body president Payton Head warned his peers to stay away from windows because the Ku Klux Klan was out in full-force at the Columbia-based university. The campus leader was even working with the National Guard on handling the dangerous situation. On Wednesday morning, Twitter’s “Mizzou on edge” Moments page made it appear that the college had been racked by terror all night. (RELATED: Mizzou Students Hallucinate KKK On Campus)

Here are a few of the many messages that expressed the hysteria that ran rampant at MU last night.

There was just one problem: There was no actual threat on campus Tuesday night, as confirmed by MU authorities.

Head later apologized for spreading the false rumor far and wide. But on Tuesday that didn’t stop the MU police from showing off their new policy of hunting down anyone who might’ve made mean comments and throwing the whole school into an uncontrollable panic. (RELATED: New Email At Mizzou Orders Students To Call The Police If They’re Offended)

However, the scenes reported by scared students affiliated with Concerned Student 1950 — the name taken on by the activists — had more resemblance to scenes out of the movies like “Mississippi Burning” or “A Time to Kill” than anything that would be witnessed in 2015 America. The whole episode bore some similarity to the silly situation that occurred at Oberlin College in 2013 when the sighting of a Klan hood shut down the entire school for one whole day. (Meet The Privileged, Obama-Supporting Kids Who Perpetrated The Oberlin Race Hoax)

The fact that anyone would fall for it again — and even justify falsely reporting it — speaks volumes about what’s happening at Mizzou right now.

Prior to Tuesday night’s hysteria, the majority of the media coverage centered on how protesters physically intimidated reporters. Remember, this same media promoted MU’s racial tension to the nation and demonstrated marked sympathy for the cause of the aggravated activists. (RELATED: It’s Time For State Intervention At Mizzou)

But now, thanks to false claims of violent racists stalking the campus, the focus has shifted back to Mizzou’s supposed problem with racism.

It’s interesting that the two individuals most responsible for spreading the false rumor are also the same two individuals who initiated the tumult that led to the toppling of university system president Tim Wolfe. Jonathan Butler’s hunger strike is what prompted 32 black Mizzou football players to call for Wolfe’s resignation — and what brought national attention to the campus. (RELATED: Brace Yourself For Racial Activism In College Football)

And Head’s September accusation that he was harassed by racist whites in a pickup truck was the first match that lit the fire to MU’s present racial turmoil.

In light of his fabricated claim that the KKK had invaded campus, there should be some more scrutiny of the MU student government president’s original accusation that unidentified harassers in a pickup truck adorned with a Confederate flag called him the n-word. For one thing, Head reported the matter in a funny way. Even though the protest movement wants police involvement in all cases of alleged harassment, this student leader never told police about it. Instead, he let the world know through social media that he had suffered abuse.

If this was a genuinely threatening situation, then why wouldn’t Head report it to police? As it stands right now, the only evidence for the harassment claim is Head’s own Facebook post. Though the incident happened in September and received wide-spread attention on campus, no pickup-driving suspects have been identified.

Considering Head’s wildly inaccurate Klan claim and the lack of any evidence for his September assertion, it seems less and less likely that he was verbally assaulted by racist students.

And that’s not the only racial incident that appears more than a tad fishy. There’s also the matter of the now infamous poop swastika. In late October, a residence hall reported that a Nazi symbol made out of human waste was found in one of its bathrooms. The Daily Caller’s Chuck Ross reported Wednesday that this disgusting marker was seen by university police on the night in question. (RELATED: Here Is The Police Report From The Mizzou Poop Swastika Incident)

Bringing reason into the matter, you have to wonder how a swastika made out of fecal matter is supposed to be any kind of endorsement of white supremacy. Wouldn’t it actually be offensive to neo-Nazis to make a poop swastika?

Was it made by an aspiring artist wishing to make his mark among the avant-garde? Was it a supporter of “Concerned Student 1950” wishing to further cause? Was it a very inebriated prankster trying to pull a sick joke? Or was it actually made by a demented follower of Adolf Hitler?

The intent behind the fecal icon remains unknown, but you do have to wonder how in the world it gets interpreted as a sign of oppression.

Besides those claims, there’s also the accusation that the departed university president hit Black Lives Matter protesters with a car during a parade they were disrupting. The person who claimed he was hit by Wolfe’s car is none other than Jonathan Butler. Video of the event shows that no such thing occurred, but this fact hasn’t dissuaded activists from continuing to cite it as another sign of the systematic oppression that permeates Mizzou.

One verifiable claim of racial harassment cited by activists is in any way verifiable. In that instance, a drunk student hurled an epithet at some black students back in October. The man was identified and is currently being investigated by the school for disciplinary infractions. For this case, it looks like the school handled the situation to the exact liking of the activists.

So if the majority of cases are backed by very little verifiable evidence, how were campus agitators able to force the college to bend to their will?

Because, unfortunately, America has a problem with accepting race hoaxes without first checking out the facts.

Arguably the most famous hoax was the made-up rape of Tawana Brawley in 1987. Brawley, a troubled African-American girl, accused six white men of brutally raping her in New York. It turned out that the young woman made-up the entire thing, with her story full of holes from the beginning. But that didn’t discourage Al Sharpton from embracing the case to push his agenda and making a name off it.

In 2006, three white Duke University lacrosse players were falsely accused of rape by an African-American woman. The local district attorney, desperate to win re-election, zealously pursued the case, even though the evidence was utterly lacking. After ruining the lives of three young men, the case turned out to be completely made-up and charges were thrown out. Prior to that happy ending, Sharpton and other activists latched themselves on to the controversy and used it to promote their agenda.

Last year, Missouri witnessed another racial episode over the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson. The incident that spawned the Black Lives Matter movement had several witnesses to the shooting falsely claim that Brown had his hands up when he was shot. In fact, he was charging the Ferguson police officer, Darren Wilson, during a scuffle when he was gunned down. However, Ferguson is still being used to this day to further the Black Lives Matter agenda. (RELATED: Justice Department Set To Clear Darren Wilson Of Civil Rights Charges In Michael Brown Shooting)

Whether or not the original incidents that spurred the protest movement in Mizzou actually occurred is a fact that has yet to be determined. What we know so far about the cases and the individuals involved, should draw increased skepticism towards these events. Activists claim that their campus is a hotbed of “systematic oppression” and cite these allegations as proof. If they’re not true, then that undermines the very motivation for removing President Wolfe and issuing gratuitous demands.

Even if they are true, they do not prove that MU inculcates a culture of bigotry, especially when you consider how much the school spends to advocate for diversity. They are isolated incidents, and if the campus was truly full of racists, how did an African-American get elected as its student body president?

It’s worth noting that Concerned Student 1950’s demands have very little to do with safety and a whole lot to do with giving more power to a certain group of students based solely on their skin color. (RELATED: Mizzou Protesters Now Segregating Their Members By Race)

How a new curriculum that emphasizes diversity and political correctness even more than it already does will do anything to protect students is beyond comprehension. Even worse is the idea of expanded racial quotas and teachers being forced to pass students simply because of their race.

It is possible that some of these allegations were either exaggerated or fully fabricated in order to gin up tension on campus to further a politicized agenda. As previously documented, it’s happened in the past and the tactic of exploiting dubious stories has become a favored tactic of the Left. Just check out what happened at the University of Virginia last year over the Rolling Stone rape hoax. (RELATED: Rolling Stone Officially Retracts UVA Rape Hoax, Reporter Apologizes)

The Tuesday night claims were certainly not true.

As the drama continues to unfold in Columbia, one thing is for certain: State lawmakers need to step in and take over the university for the good of the student body and the taxpayers who fund it.

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