Payton Head, recent graduate and former student body president of the University of Missouri, shared the experiences that led him to become a social activist, at a talk hosted by the Office of Multicultural Affairs (OMA) on Feb. 28.
Head made news when his Facebook post in Sept. 2015 about a racist encounter at his university went viral. His student leadership and push for inclusion at the University of Missouri, also known as “Mizzou,” has been an inspiration to many students across the United States.
Head started school at Mizzou in the fall of 2012. He explained what it was like for him when he first stepped onto campus.
“I’m a kid from the South Side of Chicago, which is predominantly black,” Head said. “Coming into mid-Missouri, where it was predominantly white, was different for me. I remember as a freshman just feeling this exclusion.”
Head noticed that although the university promoted diversity, the community itself was not so inclusive.
“Mizzou seemed to celebrate diversity all the time. They had a program that was called ‘One Mizzou.’ No matter what, we were supposed to love one another and celebrate and come together as a community,” Head said. “I didn’t see one Mizzou; I saw multiple Mizzous.”
During a diversity summit, Head asked Richard Bowen Loftin, Mizzou’s Chancellor at the time, how he could bring about change as a student.
“It wasn’t so much me complaining about the institution... [but] understanding that I am a stakeholder of the student body. They told me to get involved. So I joined everything. I became a summer orientation leader, a tour guide for the university, I was on the alumni association student board, I was in our black student government in addition to the Missouri student association student government,” he said.
It was not until a personal encounter with racism, however, that Head was sparked into beginning his fight for inclusion.
“As I was walking through campus in Greek town, some guys on the back of a pickup truck screamed the N-word out at me,” Head said. “It really shook me to my core at the moment.”
Head even considered transferring to another college that was offering him a scholarship. However, he decided to stay, as he believed that the university was his home. The incident instead led him to run for the president of the student body at Mizzou.
“If you have a home, and you have the privilege, you don’t just leave it. You clean it up,” Head said. “That was when I decided to run for student body president, in an election that would end up being historic.”
Head recalled that he encountered many doubters during his campaign. There had never been a black student president at the university before.
“They said that I wouldn’t win because I was black... that I wouldn’t have the vote to win,” Head said. “That was the type of stuff students would say to my face.”
However, Head continued with his campaign. He ended up winning the election and becoming the first black student president.
“We won in the highest voter turn-out in the history of the University of Missouri,” Head said.”That showed the power of the student body. And that showed that students were ready for change, and change is what they got.”
Once elected as student president, Head still encountered difficulty with bringing racial issues to the forefront. One particular issue concerned the fatal shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson that occurred in the fall of 2014.
“This was very interesting time to be at the university. Just two hours away was Ferguson, Missouri, where a lot of our students were coming from,” said Head. “But every single thing that was happening in Ferguson was met with silence by the institution.”
Head decided to initiate emails and demonstrations to show the university’s solidarity with the issues in their community.
“The first thing I did as student body president was to send out a university-wide email letting students know the resources that existed on campus,” Head said.
Despite these efforts, however, the administration did not respond with the same enthusiasm.
In the fall of 2015, Head wrote his Facebook post that recounted the aforementioned incident when a group of men shouted the N-word at him and also cited other acts of oppression against marginalized groups.
Head read aloud his post, and explained why he felt it was important.
“We all have privilege in many different ways. That’s why this Facebook post wasn’t just about me, but also about my best friend who was trans, who was spit on walking down the street, or my friends who were Muslim being called towel-heads and terrorists,” Head said. “Those issues are personal. We have to realize that all of these voices matter. These were the issues I took to my chancellor and president.”
Head’s Facebook post made international headlines, but the university did not respond. This prompted student Jonathan Butler and many other students to go on a hunger strike. The strike demanded that the president of the university, Tim Wolfe, step down from his position.
“There were tents on the quad, because Jonathan Butler began a hunger strike,” Head said. “What hurts the most is when the university meets that with silence.”
The issue at the university drew national media attention to the campus. Head noted that throughout this time, the students, faculty and staff stood together as one body. A significant moment, however, was when the football coach at the University of Missouri made a statement.
“Nobody expected this — the coach tweeted a picture of the team — that the football team would not be playing until this stopped,” he said. “The coach used his privilege for the greater good. And the entire team protested.”
In the fall of 2015, Wolfe resigned from his position.
Cynthia Roman, who is the student services administrator in the Office of Multicultural Affairs (OMA), expressed how it was important for the students to know about Head’s experiences.
“The committee recognized that Hopkins has a history of student activism and wanted to highlight those efforts,” Roman wrote in an email to The News-Letter. “The student committee was looking to engage the campus community on the student activism that we have seen in the past year and explore the ways civic engagement influence the co-curricular student experience on college campuses.”
Roman emphasized that Head cam serve as an important role model for students who hope to engage in social activism on campus.
“Mr. Head’s civic engagement on University of Missouri’s SGA can serve as an example that students can get involved in community service and social justice in various types of ways and still balance academic obligations,” she wrote. “Since Mr. Head is a recent graduate he will be able to relate to our students in a way we often do not see on Hopkins campus.”
Isis Dwyer, chair of the Black History Month Committee, connected Head’s speech with similar events at Hopkins.
“It was really huge that he was part of the movement at Mizzou because a lot of the activism and inspiration that happened on our campus directly came from standing in solidarity with Mizzou students,” Dwyer said. “With the black student forum and the protests in 2015, it was really cool to have him be our inspiration then having him come to speak to us.”
Head gave advice to students who are interested in becoming more socially active on campus and in their communities.
“For students who are fresh graduates, remember this: There are going to be times where it will be difficult. It’s important for students to find a support system,” he said. “Especially when you get in the workplace, find your allies immediately. Find the people you can truly count on.”
Head emphasized that it is important for current college students to continue the legacy set by him and his peers.
“The future is in your hands,” he said. “We’re not going to be able to solve any of this mess we’re in right now if we continue pointing fingers... We have to open up the conversation, open up the dialogue, and we have to love and advocate and appreciate one another for all of our immediate differences.”
