In letter, former University of Missouri System president Tim Wolfe rips colleagues

Since Tim Wolfe stepped down last fall as president of the University of Missouri System after campus protests over his handling of racial issues, he has been silent about the events that led to his resignation.

That changed Wednesday when a letter labeled “confidential” and emailed “to a select few friends” became public. The letter ripped into other university leaders — and lamented that the system’s Board of Curators had yet to offer Wolfe a fair severance package.

The letter, obtained first by the Columbia Daily Tribune and then The Kansas City Star, detailed what Wolfe called “unconscionable behaviors.” He said former Columbia campus chancellor R. Bowen Loftin had made a string of poor decisions and then curators had dragged their feet when Wolfe wanted Loftin removed.

He also was critical of MU athletic department leaders; of Michael Middleton, the university’s diversity official, and the curators’ selection of him as interim president; and of a state senator who Wolfe said improperly pressured him.

Wolfe also lamented the football team’s decision to support the protests, which he called “the equivalent of throwing gasoline on a small fire.” He questioned coach Gary Pinkel’s support of that decision and wondered why Middleton didn’t act to curb the protests by students he knew.

In the email, dated Jan. 20, Wolfe said he resigned out of love for MU and concern for a possible violent escalation of the protests.

The campus actions had been peaceful, but they followed violent unrest in Ferguson, Mo., after a police shooting. Wolfe said he wanted to head off “a potential Ferguson-like event on the MU campus.”

The protests also gained national attention when the MU football team added its support and voted to forfeit games until Wolfe was removed. Wolfe criticized Columbia campus officials — Loftin, athletic director Mack Rhoades and Pinkel — for not telling the university system about the team’s plans before they were announced. With Wolfe’s resignation, the team went ahead and played.

At the time of Wolfe’s resignation, Pinkel said he had not told the president he was supporting the team, but Rhoades said he had kept Wolfe informed.

Pinkel drew praise from some for supporting his players’ decision, but Wolfe’s email said: “Coach Pinkel missed an important opportunity to teach his players a valuable life lesson.”

“I believe the University of Missouri is under attack and current leadership from the Board on down is frozen,” Wolfe said in the email. “They are at risk of being defunded by the General Assembly — over $500 million — and you have already read about the drop in enrollment projections. Without change, the odds of the Board’s ability to attract decent candidates for the next president are very low.”

The Board of Curators, in the only statement the university system released, said it was aware of the email “containing his thoughts about the events of last autumn and his desire to reach what he regards as an acceptable financial agreement.” The statement said negotiations on a contract settlement had used “a well-regarded and well-known mediator” and would continue.

Other current officials and departments mentioned in Wolfe’s email either declined to comment beyond the curators’ statement or did not reply to calls and emails requesting comment.

Wolfe did not return a phone call or an email.

In Jefferson City, Wolfe’s email wasn’t helping the university’s cause.

In an interview, Rep. Caleb Jones, a Columbia Republican, said: “Tim Wolfe trying to blackmail the university by airing its dirty laundry to get more severance is unprofessional, unethical and immoral. …

“The university is going to face much more scrutiny over how they spend the taxpayers’ dollars this year than they have in previous years. I feel like the university is suffering from a calamity of serious errors of judgment by its current administration and its previous administration.”

Another Columbia Republican, Sen. Kurt Schaefer, was criticized in the email and blasted Wolfe back in a statement: “In an attempt to extort taxpayer dollars for an extravagant golden parachute, he is attempting to revise history and blame everyone but himself.”

Schaefer also said the email was “intentionally leaked to the press.”

Another Columbia representative, Democrat Stephen Webber, said: “My focus is on making Mizzou a great place to get an education and conduct world class research. That was my focus before the letter and it’s my focus now.”

At Gov. Jay Nixon’s office, press secretary Scott Holste said the governor had not read the letter and wanted to speak with Middleton before commenting further. Holste did say Nixon had “a high level of respect” for Middleton and “faith he will help the university move forward.”

The email surfaced the day of interim chancellor Hank Foley’s state of the university address. Foley, in his two-hour-long speech, said he had received emails from thousands of alumni “shaken deeply” by the campus upheaval.

“It is stunning to see a president, an alumnus himself, and someone many of you really liked, resign suddenly and under duress,” he said.

And just as Wolfe had done the day he stepped away from the presidency, Foley acknowledged racial inequity on the campus: “The tension around race relations and the campus climate shows that we need to do more to be fully inclusive.”

Foley said “one way to regard student unrest is as a sign that the institution has not kept pace with the change, especially with students’ and the public’s expectations.”

He called on the entire university to work toward a more accepting and kinder campus culture and said diversity training for staff, administration and students already was underway.

Foley did not mention Wolfe’s email, which also made these points:

▪ Wolfe accepted “some of the responsibility for what happened,” including making “the mistake of hiring Bowen Loftin” and trusting “the Board of Curators to support my decision and to do what is in the best interest of the University of Missouri System rather than to cave into politicians and special interest groups.”

▪ In a short time, Wolfe said, Loftin had made decisions that angered fraternities and graduate students and disrupted the health system by pressuring a vice chancellor to retire and severing ties with Planned Parenthood. Wolfe also accused Loftin, sensing that his chancellor’s job was in jeopardy, of shifting the protesters’ anger to Wolfe.

Loftin, who also resigned his position in November, told the Tribune that he was “flabbergasted by those kinds of comments” and that Wolfe was incorrect in saying he had tried to sway the protesters.

▪ Wolfe questioned why Middleton was chosen as his interim replacement when the students’ concerns regarded diversity and inclusion, and Middleton had “failed miserably” as the university’s leader in addressing those issues.

Wolfe also wondered why Middleton chose “not to stop the growing protest,” given that Middleton was familiar with many protesters, including Jonathan Butler, whose hunger strike drew the football team’s support.

Middleton did not respond to a request for comment on the email.

▪ Wolfe accused Schaefer, who is running for attorney general, of undue political pressure on several matters. One was allegedly pressuring Wolfe to deny associate professor Josh Hawley’s right to ask for an unpaid leave to also enter the attorney general’s race.

Schaefer called all of Wolfe’s claims “false and ridiculous.” He told The Tribune he had discussed Hawley’s leave with university officials but had not pressured Wolfe.

▪ Wolfe expressed frustration that settlement talks on his contract had yet to yield an agreement. He said he had “done the right thing” in resigning to defuse the protests but was being treated unfairly in return.

“I’m left with the options of either accepting a small fraction of the total compensation that I could have made … or to litigate,” he wrote.

In contrast, he said, much more generous terms were offered to Loftin and Pinkel, who resigned as football coach for health reasons.

Wolfe’s email concluded by asking his friends to express their concerns about the state of the university to the curators and to ask them to resolve his contract.

This story was originally published January 27, 2016 at 1:04 PM with the headline "In letter, former University of Missouri System president Tim Wolfe rips colleagues."