After the Springfield Coalition for Minority Advancement
submitted a petition calling for the dismissal of Missouri State University Assistant Vice President for Multicultural Services Juan Meraz, a new petition is circulating to keep him.
The
Change.org petition filed yesterday by Kyle Vesely states the demands of a small group of students should not dictate the removal of an MSU executive.
“We, the current students and alumni of Missouri State University, will not let the few attempt (to) bully and intimidate such a fine administrator and educator,” the petition reads.
As of 11:15 a.m., the petition had gathered 1,789 signature.
In a Facebook post, Meraz thanked his supporters.
“I am completely overwhelmed by the outpour of emails, texts, instant messages, phone calls, messages and Facebook posts on my behalf,” he wrote on his Facebook wall. “I appreciate and value every one of you and can never express my total and complete gratitude.”
Conversely, the student group’s
petition seeking the removal of Meraz - which has not been put online - has around 100 signatures.
The SCMA’s petition accuses Meraz of causing racial division among multicultural students, being prejudiced against black students and withholding money from students approved for the school’s multicultural assistance grant. The organization also released a recording purportedly of Meraz saying MSU’s Multicultural Resource Center is hostile to anyone that’s not black.
The Springfield chapter of the NAACP released a statement in support of the group, saying more accountability and transparency of MSU’s Office of Multicultural Services is needed.
Yesterday, the SCMA held a news conference to further cement its view Meraz should be fired, according to the group’s
Facebook page.
The petitions follow the resignation of Ken Coopwood, the school’s first black vice president.
In January, Coopwood, the leader of the MSU office of diversity and inclusion, said he would resign following an independent investigation into alleged racism against him. Ellis, Ellis, Hammons & Johnson PC, which was hired by MSU to investigate the claims, found “no credible evidence” of racial discrimination against Coopwood.
In the wake of the resignation, the
MSU Board of Governors approved $240,000 in diversity promotions, specifically involving H. Wes Pratt and O. Gilbert Brown.
