ANALYSIS/OPINION:
It was the money, honey.
It was the money that forced Tim Wolfe out of his job as president of the University of Missouri System.
And because the culprit was money — blackmailing money — watch out.
Everyone be on the lookout for Wall Street’s favorite generation.
The students at Mizzou are far different from their hell-raising counterparts in Ferguson, Missouri; and Baltimore, where racial hostilities led to civil unrest of the worst order.
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Rioting didn’t happen on Missouri campuses because violence, bloodshed and other such calamities weren’t the students’ agenda.
Financial leverage was.
In short, as you now know, Mizzou had a sacrificial lamb, and his name is Tim Wolfe, a high school student-athlete who grew up who sought prayer over the weekend before announcing his resignation on Monday.
Students and some football players said they wanted Mr. Wolfe to step down because he did nothing to stem racial problems at the school. The problems, they said, included feces being used to draw a swastika on a wall in a dorm during the summer. Black and Jewish students apparently protested Mr. Wolfe’s inaction to that and other incidents.
So they demanded he quit. Or else.
The powers that be sacrificed him in lieu of ransom money, an estimated $1 million.
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That’s how much Missouri would have had to pay if the Tigers could not field a team for their football game against the Brigham Young University Cougars on Saturday at Arrowhead Stadium, the Kansas City Chiefs’ home field. The NFL’s fifth-largest facility, it can hold nearly 76,500 fans — a lot of butts and a huge money bucket.
Everyone was so keen on making the game happen — even Andy Reid, who played at BYU and now coaches the Chiefs, was part of the game negotiations. If the game were called off because Missouri players and coaches were protesting, the university would have had to pay BYU $1 million.
Any imaginable explanation for a forfeit to alumni, boosters, parents and sponsors would been rejected out of hand.
Mr. Wolfe and the school’s top leaders knew as much.
Moreover, the restless students, the faculty and the coaching staff who stood with them knew it, too. They all knew that for the rest of the season, during the post-season and when next season’s schedule talks began and decisions were made, the headline would have begun with the words “Mizzou football.”
The ripples could have been deep and wide. Alumni support would have been tough. (Imagine trying to get Brad Pitt to guard your back.) Recruiting would have turned very, very tough. Fundraising would have been very, very, very tough.
Heck, playwright Tennessee Williams, who attended Mizzou, may have already rolled over in his St. Louis grave.
Young people, especially those 18-34, are having their say, and Wall Street and philanthropists like George Soros see an opportunity, grab it and open the floodgates. They know that demographic practically says and does as it pleases (itself).
If they think they see something afoul, they recorded it on their smartphones.
If they think Starbucks coffee cups should have snowflakes and Christmastime decorations, they hit social media.
If they think Confederate flags are a symbol of all that was — and is — wrong with America, they let forth a battle cry that will put the rebel yell to shame.
And they give a hoot about gender, as if you didn’t already know.
$1 million or Tim Wolfe?
The decision was easy for the powers that be and, frankly, it should have been for Tim Wolfe, too.
Feces! Swastika!
A smart chief executive would have sprung into action.
• Deborah Simmons can be reached at dsimmons@washingtontimes.com.
• Deborah Simmons can be reached at dsimmons@washingtontimes.com.
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