A University of Missouri police officer has been fired from the school after a picture of him wearing blackface surfaced on social media.
On Tuesday, chancellor Alexander N. Cartwright announced the termination of Marcus Collins after he identified himself in the picture, claiming that it was taken before he joined the campus police in January 2018.
“This type of behavior is not tolerated at Mizzou, and we understand how this impacts our entire community profoundly,” Cartwright said. “Racism, hate and insensitive behavior have no place on our campus. We are committed to our values of respect, responsibility, discovery and excellence, and to making our campus a place where everyone feels welcome and protected.”
Collins’ firing has since evoked mixed reactions from members of the university community. In particular, some believe that the move was hastily made.
“The community deserves an explanation,” Stephen Graves, director of undergraduate studies in the MU Black Studies Department, told Newsweek.
“There have been so many instances where people are fired and are never to be seen or heard from again, but their actions are not exposed. It doesn’t give the public or community enough time to assess the incident.”
In a similar incident last month, a group of students at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville posted a picture with a racist caption on Snapchat, featuring two students dressed in blackface. However, after days of discussions, university administrators decided not to take any action against the students, claiming that they were “expressing their First Amendment rights.”
The handling of the incident prompted more than 40 students dressed in black to remain seated in protest during the singing of the national anthem at a school basketball game.
Two University of Oklahoma Students Leave University Over Racist Video