University of Missouri President, Chancellor Step Down amid Race Row

Chancellor R. Bowen Loftin told reporters that he would transition to a new role advancing research, starting January 1.

Loftin praised the efforts of graduate student Jonathan Butler, who ended his hunger strike earlier in the day. Butler had stopped eating last week, demanding the removal of university system President Tim Wolfe.

"I want to acknowledge his extraordinary courage and leadership," Loftin said about Butler. "A very tough, tough young man, a very focused young man, a very intelligent and forward-looking young man, so we owe him a lot," CNN reported.

African-American students at Missouri have complained of inaction on the part of school leaders in dealing with racism on the overwhelmingly white Columbia campus. Black student leaders have conveyed their displeasure over students openly using racial slurs and other incidents.

Several University of Missouri organizations, including the football team and the student association, had called for Wolfe to step down.

Until Monday, he had presided over the university system, which includes the main University of Missouri campus in Columbia, along with the University of Missouri-St. Louis, University of Missouri-Kansas City and Missouri University of Science and Technology.

Saying he takes "full responsibility for the inaction that has occurred," Wolfe asked that the university community listen to each other's problems and "stop intimidating each other."

"This is not -- I repeat, not -- the way change should come about. Change comes from listening, learning, caring and conversation," he said. "Use my resignation to heal and start talking again."

His decision, he said, "came out of love, not hate," and he urged the university to "focus on what we can change" in the future, not what's happened in the past.

Students, faculty and staff converged on the Carnahan Quad following Wolfe's announcement. There, they linked arms and swayed side to side, singing, "We Shall Overcome."

Wolfe's resignation came after football players, both black and white, threatened -- with their coach's support -- not to practice or play again until Butler ended his strike.

The student activist tweeted that he had ended his hunger strike and said, "More change is to come!! #TheStruggleContinues."

He told CNN his reaction to Wolfe's resignation was "just wow," and he was crying because the moment meant so much to him. His fight was not solely against racism, but against sexism and homophobia as well. He fought, he said, because so many others fought for equality before him.