COLUMBIA, Mo. — The hunger strike was over. Students and alumni were dancing arm in arm, celebrating a victory of activism. The football team had ended its boycott and gone back to work. University of Missouri president Tim Wolfe had resigned.
And football coach Gary Pinkel and athletic director Mack Rhoades were holding a very awkward press conference.
They were proud to have supported the players during the boycott and said they had done the right thing. Pinkel said he did it "because a young man's life was on the line."
Yes, grad student Jonathan Butler apparently was fading after days of his hunger strike.