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Online threats against black students rattle Missouri campus | Online threats against black students rattle Missouri campus |
(about 1 hour later) | |
Police at the University of Missouri have arrested at least one man after death threats were posted online against black students. | Police at the University of Missouri have arrested at least one man after death threats were posted online against black students. |
Officials linked 19-year-old Hunter Park to some of the threatening posts but did not say how. | Officials linked 19-year-old Hunter Park to some of the threatening posts but did not say how. |
The university increased security but said there is no "immediate threat". | The university increased security but said there is no "immediate threat". |
Mr Park's arrest comes days after University President Tim Wolfe was forced out, accused of not doing enough to address racism on campus. | Mr Park's arrest comes days after University President Tim Wolfe was forced out, accused of not doing enough to address racism on campus. |
Threats mostly came from users of the anonymous messaging app Yik-Yak. | Threats mostly came from users of the anonymous messaging app Yik-Yak. |
Yik Yak condemned the threatening messages and said in a news release that the company works alongside authorities to help in investigations and it may share information with law enforcement. | |
Mr Park was not on campus or nearby when posting the message, police said. | Mr Park was not on campus or nearby when posting the message, police said. |
He lives in Rolla, Missouri, about 100 miles (161km) south of the Columbia campus and is a student at the Missouri University of Science & Technology, the school confirmed. | |
"I'm going to stand my ground tomorrow and shoot every black person I see," one anonymous post read on Yik Yak. | "I'm going to stand my ground tomorrow and shoot every black person I see," one anonymous post read on Yik Yak. |
Another warned black students simply not to come to campus the next day and another said "we're waiting for you at the parking lots... we will kill you." | Another warned black students simply not to come to campus the next day and another said "we're waiting for you at the parking lots... we will kill you." |
Before the suspect was apprehended, protest leaders said the university administrators were not doing enough to address the threats against minority students. | Before the suspect was apprehended, protest leaders said the university administrators were not doing enough to address the threats against minority students. |
One black student tweeted an email conversation with his professor in which he told the professor he was scared to come to class because of the threats. | One black student tweeted an email conversation with his professor in which he told the professor he was scared to come to class because of the threats. |
"The only way bullies are defeated is by standing up to them ... If we cancel the exam, they win; if we go through with it, they lose," the professor wrote. | "The only way bullies are defeated is by standing up to them ... If we cancel the exam, they win; if we go through with it, they lose," the professor wrote. |
In recent weeks, students staged a sit-in on a university plaza and one graduate student participated in a hunger strike, calling for Mr Wolfe's resignation. | In recent weeks, students staged a sit-in on a university plaza and one graduate student participated in a hunger strike, calling for Mr Wolfe's resignation. |
Among the offences black students have complained about are that a swastika drawn in faeces was found in a dormitory bathroom and that they are subjected to racial slurs by passerby in cars and on campus. | |
Mr Wolfe stepped down after the university's American football team joined the cause, threatening not to play until action was taken to address racial issues on the mostly white campus. | Mr Wolfe stepped down after the university's American football team joined the cause, threatening not to play until action was taken to address racial issues on the mostly white campus. |
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