The University of Missouri’s president may have resigned, but that hasn’t quelled racial tensions at the college. Police arrested a teenager on Wednesday for making death threats against Mizzou’s black students on the anonymous social networking app Yik Yak.
Raw Story reports that the threats appeared on Yik Yak on Tuesday, and were worded like this: “I’m going to stand my ground tomorrow and shoot every black person I see.” MTV news embedded a screenshot from a second threat, with several outraged responses:
https://twitter.com/Teeeejjjjj/status/664246052455739392?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
According to Raw Story, the suspect that university police arrested was 19-year-old Hunter M. Park. They located him 95 miles from campus, and said that he wasn’t a student. Yik Yak officials apparently helped police identify him.
MTV news has more on the student response to these threats. Mizzou’s student government asked that classes be canceled on Wednesday due to many students feeling unsafe. The letter sent to administrators contained a last line of “please, please, please, please.”
.@MSAmizzou has contacted admin asking for classes to be canceled tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/sWnLN2ljML
— Elizabeth Loutfi (@ElizabethLoutfi) November 11, 2015
While officials did not cancel classes, they assured students on Twitter that they were taking the threats and students’ safety seriously. As NBC News reports, one professor refused to cancel an exam, telling students “if you give into bullies, they win.” He later canceled the exam and tendered his resignation.
The controversy has also inspired the trending Twitter hashtag, #BlackOnCampus.