Missouri chancellor R. Bowen Loftin announced Monday that he’s stepping down to take a different position after only 21 months on campus.
The announcement came just hours after University of Missouri System President Tim Wolfe resigned amid protests regarding racial tension on Missouri’s flagship campus in Columbia, Mo.
Black student activist group Concerned Student 1950 had been calling for campus and system-wide changes, which included Wolfe’s resignation. It also called for "a collective of students, staff, and faculty of diverse backgrounds" to have a role in selecting future presidents and chancellors.
While Loftin’s decision to resign might seem tied to the current protests on campus, he’s actually been fighting to keep his job since October.
On Oct. 21, the University of Missouri Board of Curators met in a closed session to determine whether to recuse Loftin of his duties over a dispute with Planned Parenthood. The details of that meeting were never disclosed.
According to various media reports, Loftin bowed to the legislative pressures of Missouri Sen. Kurt Schaefer and revoked the UM hospital privileges of doctor who performed non-surgical abortions at the local Planned Parenthood clinic. Loftin also cancelled 10 contracts for nursing and medical students to complete clinical hours at Planned Parenthood’s facilities.
All of this was following a Senate interim committee called the 'Sanctity of Life', led by Schaefer, which launched an inquiry into Planned Parenthood facilities in the state of Missouri.
The moves threatened Planned Parenthood’s abilities to perform medically induced abortions in mid-Missouri. State law requires physicians or centers providing abortions to have agreements with local hospitals for patient care following the procedure.
The group “Mizzou for Planned Parenthood” met with Loftin last Tuesday with more than 2,000 petitions in hand calling for a repeal of the revoked privileges.
Loftin also was under fire for stripping graduate assistants from an annual subsidy of about $3,000 for health care costs because of a recent IRS interpretation of the Affordable Care Act.
The move caused an uprising on campus and ultimately Loftin told members of the Forum on Graduate Rights, a non-university affiliated student group at the University of Missouri, that UM would cover health insurance premiums for graduate student employees next school year. However, the group is still waiting for a contractually binding agreement that lays out those terms.
It is unclear whether Loftin will ultimately come to a resolution regarding either of these main issues on Missouri’s flagship campus before he leaves his post, however, it’s clear that the waves these issues made on campus did not help Loftin’s short tenure.
For more Missouri news, visit PowerMizzou.com.
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Graham Watson is the editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at dr.saturday@ymail.com or follow her on Twitter! Follow @YahooDrSaturday
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