One of the prominent photographers and a donor at the Meek School of Journalism and New Media at the University of Mississippi has landed himself in trouble after sharing a “controversial” Facebook post.
Edwin Meek, one of the major donors behind the school, wrote a Facebook post involving images of two black women on Wednesday, and that has not gone down well with the students, who said his post had a racial overtone. They have been asking the university officials to remove his name from the college.
In his post, Meek had said that women on the pictures were the reason behind the decline in the real estate values.
“I hesitated until now to publish these pictures but think it is important that our community see what the camera is seeing at 2am after a ballgame. I hear there were 180 police working the weekend but of all the pictures late night, the fights and scenes, I have seen no police presence,” he wrote in the post that has been deleted after the outrage.
“Enough, Oxford and Ole Miss leaders, get on top of this before it is too late. A three per cent decline in enrollment is nothing compared to what we will see if this continues…and real estate values will plummet as will tax revenue.”
After his post received severe backlash, the school faculty said in a statement on Saturday that the “post is endemic of a larger culture and history of exclusion” and asked Meek to apologize.
“For more than 50 years, Ed Meek has played a critical role in moving our university forward. While his request tonight to remove his name from the Meek School of Journalism and New Media was made selflessly to permit the university to move forward, it is nonetheless regrettable and poignant,” reads the statement.
“This post is endemic of a larger culture and history of exclusion that has harmed and continues to harm students and the entire university community.”
While denying the using the racial overtone, Meek has asked the university to remove his name from the school. He said that his intention was to point out the problem without targeting a particular race.