Mizzou Prof Offers Resignation After Encouraging Students to Attend Class Despite Reported Threats

The unrest at University of Missouri continues: A professor named Dale Brigham offered his resignation, after an email response to a student brushing off her safety fears went viral online.

On Tuesday, after a post in which an anonymous user threatened to “shoot every black person I see” appeared on YikYak, black students at Mizzou began emailing Professor Brigham about staying home. According to the New York Times.Brigham was giving his Nutritional Science 1034 class an exam the following day, so many students asked to reschedule because of the possible danger. Brigham’s response was pretty nonchalant.

Brigham submitted his resignation on Wednesday, though it’s unclear if Mizzou will accept it.

Meanwhile, also on Wednesday, a Missouri University of Science and Technology student named Hunter M. Park was arrested in connection to the violent YikYak message. Park has yet to be formally charged, and won’t appear in court until Thursday because the courts are closed for Veterans Day.

Free speech proponents are also warning campus police that attempting to mandate certain methods of reporting “hateful and/or hurtful” speech could “stifle legitimate differences of opinion.”

The American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri responded with a statement calling for the university to not compromise the right to free expression in its efforts to fight racism. Its statement says, “Mistakenly addressing symptoms – instead of causes – and doing it in a way that runs counter to the First Amendment is not the wise or appropriate response.”

University of Missouri students and activists continue to cautiously monitor the events at this school and how they’re being handled, or mishandled, by campus authorities and staff.