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PRIDE AT HOME Improvements in legislation, municipal services and law enforcement help CoMo top an LGBTQ equality index PAGE 4

HOLIDAY OVERHAUL Enjoy a twist on your favorite Christmas classics with these holiday productions PAGE 16

MOMENT In the wake of upheaval at MU, became the new face of the System. He brought with him a complex past that molds his ability to lead. PAGE 6 BY RENEE HICKMAN

MUNWhat the University of Missouri SystemCHOI president’s past means for the future of MU

6 VOXMAGAZINE.COM | 11.30.17 ILLUSTRATION BY ALEXANDRA WOZNICZKA BASED ON PHOTO BY EVAN COBB detail and devotion to student concerns. on the decision, and he says the search MUN CHOI is trying But as Choi settles into his role, which committee realized the importance of its began this past March, he has begun mission to find the right person to lead to eat lunch. Outside making decisions he will be judged on; the university system for many years. it’s cold, drizzling decisions that include funding cuts and WHEN THE CALL FINALLY CAME “What you always worry about is a failed and dark for 11 a.m. layoffs, which can ultimately lead to less search,” Graham says. The 16-person flattering coverage. committee spent hundreds of hours Inside, it’s bright After the Chamber of Commerce THAT HE HAD THE JOB, CHOI WAS reviewing application materials, including in the green and meeting, Choi stands in his large and background checks and references, from gold conference room warmly lit office on Stadium Boulevard candidates all over the country. Graham for this interview. Earlier, he met with STANDING IN A TAILOR SHOP IN says the committee was excited that a at the Daniel Boone Fitzpatrick and sent him on to view number of people were highly qualified, Regional Library Missouri’s prized research reactor, WILLIMANTIC, CONNECTICUT, TO DROP but he says the board felt Choi was the where the Columbia an emblem of the direction in which right candidate for the position. Choi hopes to take the UM System. A When the call finally came that he Chamber of Commerce direction that is focused, among other OFF A SUIT. HE KNEW HE WANTED had the job, Choi was standing in a is meeting. Choi sits things, on advancing research in the tailor shop in Willimantic, Connecticut, sciences. He would like to see MU to drop off a suit. He knew he wanted in a chair at the students winning prestigious national THE POSITION AND TOOK ONLY 10 the position and took only 10 minutes front of the room science awards at the same rate as before accepting. “I knew it was a while holding one of students at the University of California, university that had undergone some Berkeley, a school of a similar size. MINUTES BEFORE ACCEPTING. significant disturbances,” Choi says. the Honeybaked Ham Choi’s background as an engineer Then he pauses. “Disturbances is the lunch boxes provided is clear based on both the initiatives at Princeton University to complete an administrator, there were other wrong word. Significant challenges.” for the meeting. he advocates for and the books on his master’s and doctoral degrees. After limitations to deal with — human ones. He remembers first reading about shelf. Posing for portraits in his office, the reaction to the August 2015 cuts in He takes a bite, finishing his Ph.D., he went on to teach “They didn’t actually teach us much he grabs The Prize by Daniel Yergin, at the University of Illinois at Chicago, about psychology,” he says. “When we graduate student health insurance in maybe two, before one of his favorites that many consider a Drexel University and the University deal with optimizing systems, there’s The Chronicle of Higher Education and someone walks up to definitive history of the oil industry. He of Connecticut. He was then appointed always the human element.” It was the the many discussions that ensued among Mun Choi began his presidency this past spring following his role as provost at the University of Connecticut. His appointment to becomes animated when talking about dean of engineering at UConn and interactions as a teacher with students fellow administrators. “It appeared from say hello and shake the position makes him the 24th president in the history of the University of Missouri System. the outside that there were some deeper the book and about anything having to later took on the position of executive and colleagues that taught him how that do with science. Oil is everywhere, he forces at play,” Choi says. “It wasn’t his hand. Then it vice president and provost, which he piece of the puzzle worked. says as he points at objects in the rooms, just the student protests, but it related happens again. He It’s been a little more than two years Choi doesn’t like that piece very much. been proactive in trying to restore the held for just over four years. As provost, The challenge of solving problems including the plastic in his shoes. to how the senior leaders interacted since Choi’s predecessor Now, he’s listening intently to state relationship between the UM System he was the university’s chief academic led Choi to apply for the position of takes another bite Choi chose engineering through with the university community.” He resigned as president of the University Rep. Scott Fitzpatrick, chairman of the and the legislature. “I look forward officer and was responsible for allocating UM System president after he saw it before he spots of Missouri System amid a wave of Missouri House Budget Committee, to continuing to work with him and a process often used in science: calls the boycott by the football team elimination. He was squeamish about resources, providing administrative advertised through Isaacson, Miller, “eye-opening” as an administrator. He student protests against racism on as he details funding priorities for the putting the UM System back into a someone across the blood, so he wouldn’t be a doctor. He oversight and directing schools and the Boston-based firm hired to lead the simply had never seen students go to campus. Sitting at the helm of the UM next year. Fitzpatrick, a republican from place of prominence,” Fitzpatrick says. room, puts down the couldn’t imagine himself arguing in colleges across the UConn system, search. The search committee conducted similar lengths. System, Choi is facing steep budget Shell Knob, Missouri, is a man with Soon after Choi took the position sandwich and goes court, so he wouldn’t be an attorney. among other tasks. two interviews with him, which were He asked himself whether he could cuts, a drop in freshman enrollment of considerable influence over the future of president, the editorial board of But he was fascinated with figuring out In some ways, being an administrator held in airport hotels. address those deeper forces but was to speak to them. It more than 30 percent in the two years of the system. And there is considerable the St. Louis Post-Dispatch postulated how things worked. As a child, he liked is like being an engineer. There are many Chairman of the Board of Curators buoyed by the lessons taught by his happens a few more since the protest and ongoing negative uncertainty about the system’s future. that he might have the hardest job putting things together, such as model parts, and they must work together. Maurice Graham had been on other mother, who grew up in what is now times. It takes a publicity, which has most recently been Earlier this week, Fitzpatrick said in Missouri. But Choi looked like a airplanes, so engineering made sense. There are always problems to solve. search committees before, including for South Korea. Choi was born in South embodied by The New York Times piece it’s too soon to say what the university beacon of hope to many, as he enjoyed He first studied the subject as an “As an engineer, we’re always trying to a college president, but says this was his Korea as well, and as a young boy, he long time to finish titled “Long After Protests, Students budget will look like in the near future. flattering coverage from the state’s undergraduate at the University of optimize; to arrive at the best solution first time on a search committee for a moved to the U.S. where he worked at that sandwich. Shun the University of Missouri.” Overall, he says he thinks Choi has press in stories praising his attention to Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and later given constraints,” Choi says. But as system president. There was a lot riding his family’s business in Chicago. He says

The UM System Choi outlined budget Throughout the rest of The UM System The Missouri Land Grant The UM System ended its executive strategies that sought the summer, budget plans invested in the Compact was signed announced plans to start performance incentive to cut more than $100 continued to roll out that image of the schools and will cover tuition an incentive grant program program after a state million from the UM included the closing of the by hiring branding for thousands of MU so more faculty members audit found about System. A few of $10 million MU International agency 160over90. students starting next University of Missouri System President Mun $2.3 million in bonus move toward open-source the short-term and Institute of Nano and The $1.27 million, fall. This undergraduate textbooks, which lessen Choi began his time at MU on March 1, 2017, payments were paid to 18 executives long-term plans Molecular Medicine and three-year contract scholarship program the costs of textbooks which followed his executive vice president and administrators. included eliminating the layoffs of dozens more coincides with the is an example of for students due to the and provost positions at the University of employees, including system’s Edelman PR Choi’s implementation Payments weren’t hundreds of jobs resources’ open copyrights. Connecticut. Here are a few highlights since he previously publicly and the closing and long-time directors of major contract, the Columbia strategies for the money July August October has joined the UM System. March disclosed. June restructuring of offices. MU departments. Missourian reported. saved from budget cuts. —RACHEL TREECE

8 VOXMAGAZINE.COM | 11.30.17 PHOTO BY CLAIRE ROUNKLES PHOTO BY HUONG TRUONG 11.30.17 | VOXMAGAZINE.COM 9 CHOI SAYS HE IS REMINDED THAT NOTHING HE WILL FACE IS COMPARABLE TO HIS MOTHER’S EXPERIENCE GROWING UP IN KOREA DURING THE JAPANESE OCCUPATION. “I WANT TO SHOW THAT I AM HER SON.”

members of the suspended fraternity for dismissal soon after questioning the Sigma Alpha Epsilon. They continued to university’s response to sexual assault harass the women for two hours until the issues on campus. The official reason police were called again. for the dismissal was performance, but University officials placed the the student at the town hall called the fraternity on probation and required circumstances “foggy.” them to complete a training program It was reported by The Daily Campus, addressing issues of sexism and racism. UConn’s student newspaper, that Choi A town hall forum was held, and the called the word “foggy” dangerous, but university investigated the incident. Flexer said she thought he’d shut the But even as those events unfolded, student down and that the university harassment continued on social media. needed to listen its students’ voices. Despite appeals from AKA, the fraternity Choi understands that Flexer was not suspended until the following interpreted his reaction as being too year. But this time, it was for holding confrontational. “I took her point to Choi replaced former UM System President Tim Wolfe. Amid student protests parties and hazing members while on heart,” says Choi, “and I said that to her.” against racism on campus, Wolfe resigned as president of the system in November probation. Choi says he then offered to meet with Choi packed up and moved to Missouri, a state that, apart from his interviews, he had last visited while on a family vacation to Meramec Caverns at age 12. 2015, the same day as former Chancellor R. Bowen Loftin. Choi dealt with criticism from some any student about issues they might have. regarding the administrative response. Regarding a different incident, them. Choi is currently pushing this which have their origins in the churches It is the president’s job to make sure Noel Cazenave, a professor of sociology Haddiyyah Ali, a member of student she endured the harsh conditions of Korea fraternity Pi Kappa Alpha, commonly initiative at MU. The use of online and universities of medieval Europe. the chancellor and other administrators at UConn who advises student activist government and an activist on campus at the time and underwent the sacrifices of called PIKE. The fraternity had painted textbooks, he says, could help lower the Running departments and budgets and are addressing the concerns of students groups, says that in the aftermath of at the time, had her own criticisms World War II and later the Korean War. the rock to honor a member injured cost of attendance and increase student multi-million-dollar football programs in a satisfactory way. Choi admits that the spirit rock incident, he thought of Choi. She recalls a meeting she When faced with obstacles, Choi in a car accident earlier in the week, access to resources. from what can seem like a great distance, many people, including students and Choi should have been more present. attended in the fall of 2015 to discuss a ADMINISTRATORS says he is reminded that nothing he according to a report by the Office of Byrd says the textbook initiative administrators at large universities can faculty, don’t fully understand what “There was no strong articulation of tuition hike, a move some of her fellow easily become faceless to the majority of college administrators do. He blames will face is comparable to his mother’s Diversity and Equity at the university. was typical of his interactions with sympathy,” Cazenave says. “The presence students questioned given increased their students and even to most faculty. the disconnect on a general lack of experience growing up in Korea during The next day, Brittney Yancy, the Choi. He didn’t see it as his place to AT LARGE of top-level administrators is what makes administrative salaries. Choi says his Mike Middleton, who served as engagement. “That’s something we do the Japanese occupation. “I want to sorority’s graduate student advisor, told tell students what to do or direct them, students feel secure.” response to those questions was that interim UM System president after need to change,” he says. show that I am her son,” he says. university officials how the celebratory but when they came to him with a When asked about it now, Choi administrator salaries needed to be Tim Wolfe’s resignation, now works at When Choi talks about the UNIVERSITIES event had soured. The women were plan, he would do what was necessary seems sensitive to that criticism. He says competitive to attract top talent, but Ali to assist. Byrd says he saw Choi as Lincoln University in Jefferson City, a similarities between engineering and approached by a group of PIKE the effort to respond to the incident was says she found his answers defensive. approachable and helpful, available if small, historically black university. He being an administrator, he uses a CAN EASILY members who ran at them with clenched purposefully led by UConn President At the other end of the spectrum is not highly visible. has come out of retirement to once again scientific term. There are “boundary A year before the protests in Columbia, fists while yelling obscenities and racist Susan Herbst and Vice President of Dan Byrd, who served as student As student body president, Byrd serve as interim president, but this time conditions” within which engineers UConn suffered its own racially charged and sexist slurs. Student Affairs Michael Gilbert. He calls body president at UConn during the under far different circumstances. must operate. For the UM System, admits his perspective might be a bit BECOME FACELESS incidents. Late in the evening on Sept. It was later reported in The Root, an Cazenave “disgruntled” and says that 2016-17 academic year and now attends When he looks at what happened the boundary conditions are set by different than many students’, however. 29, 2014, members of Alpha Kappa online magazine with a focus on black some “not-as-productive” faculty might UConn’s law school. When Byrd was at MU in 2015, Middleton says a key the budget, state and federal dollars Ali says when she worked with Choi as Alpha, a historically black sorority known culture, that Yancy said: “We were be looking for outside forces to blame for elected, his pet project was reducing the failure of the previous administration and tuition payments. The boundary TO THE MAJORITY a member of the student government as AKA, gathered at UConn’s famed called whores, and after establishing the conditions they find themselves in. cost of textbooks. He thought online, was not handling student concerns conditions have become more difficult he was more engaged and interested spirit rock, a boulder located near the that I was a university professional, I During his time at UConn, Choi open-source textbooks could lower sufficiently at the level of the chancellor due to funding cuts and dropping than when she saw him in situations OF THEIR center of campus alongside a busy street. was verbally accosted, and intimidation had to handle a number of charged costs, so he wanted to see more of them or vice chancellor. Instead, they let enrollment. with student activists. Student groups paint and then repaint tactics were used. They called me a fat incidents. After a town hall meeting on across campus. those concerns reach the office of the The UM System under Choi the rock in what is a joyful tradition black bitch — not just a fat bitch, but a campus regarding domestic violence Byrd says Choi liked the idea president. “The president of a system is eliminated 474 administrative, faculty and STUDENTS AND that fosters pride in the school and its fat black bitch.” and sexual assault, Connecticut immediately and offered assistance really the administrator of an enterprise, staff positions in June. Many positions organizations. Facing the onslaught, Yancy called Sen. Mae Flexer, who was a state to implement the plan. The student not a headmaster of a school,” he says. were already vacant, or those holding them EVEN TO MOST The women began painting the the police, who arrived and urged the representative at the time, criticized government wrote legislation The titles of university administrators Middleton says he believes the were planning to resign or retire. The UM rock in celebration of their sorority’s fraternity members to stay away from Choi for his handling of a student’s funding the expansion of access to can sound strange and a little foreign. role of president is not to be directly System’s operating budget is $1.2 billion, founding. Their paint covered the the rock. After the police left, the comment. online textbooks and ran campaigns Provost, chancellor, dean. The meanings involved with student affairs. It is the and MU — the system’s flagship campus FACULTY. earlier work of the predominantly white PIKE fraternity brothers returned with A professor had been recommended encouraging professors to switch to aren’t clear from hearing the words, chancellor’s job to relate to the students. — saw about $60 million in cuts.

10 VOXMAGAZINE.COM | 11.30.17 PHOTO BY ASA LORY PHOTO BY MARTA PAYNE 11.30.17 | VOXMAGAZINE.COM 11 “I would have met ON THE with the students RECORD early and often

At a time of budget cuts and significant to discuss their declines in enrollment, University of Missouri System President Mun Choi assumed a vital role in a delicate system. concerns before Campus unrest in 2015 gained national attention, and though he was working in Connecticut, Choi was aware of the events the situation got that fall. The following statements are from his interview with Vox. escalated, and On the obstacles he faces as president of the UM System: I would have “Addressing the challenges are fulfilling. And Choi has a deep background in education. He earned a Ph.D. from Princeton University in mechanical and this is a university that during the past two aerospace engineering, and he talks often about how his science background influences his leadership style. years has been severely criticized, in some stayed on as ways unfairly. In some ways I feel that the leadership didn’t appropriately stand up for When Choi is asked about his different campuses, directing more grounded in science. He made his the university and talk about the positive president to meeting with Fitzgerald earlier funding to scholarships, and more name taking things apart — blasting things that were happening when all of the in the day, it seems as if he could than anything, speaks on initiatives them apart, actually — when he negative stories and negative sentiments be addressing his response to a and innovation. “As universities, we invented dynamite, but his invention were being shared. We should have had a legislator. “Our faculty members are hold on to tradition for far too long,” resulted in injuries and deaths for a more proactive approach to talk about all lead the Choi says, but he quickly adds that involved in very exciting research great many people. In 1888, so the of the wonderful things that happen in this that helps benefit the economy of there are “also traditionalists that see story goes, Nobel’s brother Ludvig university.” the state that in turn helps benefit value in continuing past practices that died, and a French newspaper university the citizens of Missouri,” he says. It have led to success. My approach is On graduate students’ sounds like a line he has repeated not to denigrate what they’ve done mistakenly printed an obituary for attempts to unionize: Alfred. It was not kind, as it called many times before. but find ways to improve.” “We (at UConn) also learned what not Alfred Nobel a “merchant of death.” through the State Rep. Donna Lichtenegger, Many of Choi’s statements contain to do from that situation (at MU). During a republican from Jackson and chair cautious addendums such as these: a It is thought that Nobel established that period, we were also going through of the House Higher Education statement of strong opinion followed Nobel Prize fund areas such as peace, a negotiation process with our graduate troubling Committee, says she found Choi to by a swift acknowledgment of an literature and the sciences in large students at the University of Connecticut in be far more engaged with lawmakers opposing view. The decisions Choi part because he had considered his which they wanted to unionize the campus, than previous administrators. makes when solving problems, when legacy and decided that was what he and it’s very important to understand the period.” “When he first got there, the first working within the boundaries of the wanted it to be. Choi has said that role — the important role — that grad thing he did was give me his email,” system, are likely to upset some, no he hopes his own legacy will include students play in a research university. We Lichtenegger says. She says no other matter how much hope and positive serving for at least 10 years as the knew we had to engage our grad students president had personally provided feeling accompanied his arrival. very effectively.” her with their email before. She also Looking back on his predecessor, UM System president. — notes that Choi is interested in the Choi is reluctant to pass judgment. A member of Choi’s staff pokes On The New York Times budget process and what the UM But above all else, Choi sees Wolfe’s her head in his office to let him piece discussing MU Regarding Tim Wolfe’s departure System will receive. Lack of clear resignation as his biggest mistake. “I know he has to leave soon. His next after fall 2015: communication with lawmakers can only share what I would have done engagement elsewhere in town from the MU System following the “I thought that it was biased. I thought that was one of the main failures of past if confronted with the same situation,” starts shortly. As Choi makes his the students who were selected were Concerned Student 1950 protests administrators, Lichtenegger says, Choi says. “I would have met with way out of the building, he stops hand-picked to support a narrative that the and she thinks Choi shows signs that the students early and often to discuss in fall 2015 and looks at the wall of portraits writer had. There were students who said he will improve this. their concerns before the situation of the past 23 presidents. Some the university is unsafe, and that is not Choi’s awareness of lawmaker got escalated, and I would have stayed have troubled legacies, including true. We are ranked as one of the safest scrutiny is apparent when he talks on as president to lead the university Frederick Middlebush who opposed universities. It is said that this university about his discussion with Fitzgerald. through the troubling period.” desegregation at MU, while others is a racist institution. That is not true. We “He wants to keep us accountable Flipping through The Prize, Choi may have individuals who harbor racist and like other elected officials, as he talks about a passage from the book represented progress, such as Elson anti-semitic views, but those situations will should, but we’re also keeping about legacies. The Prize repeats a Floyd who was the first black UM be dealt with immediately, effectively and ourselves accountable,” Choi says. disputed tale about Alfred Nobel, System president. Nine months into unequivocally.” He discusses focusing on strategic the founder of the Nobel Prize and his tenure, the mark Choi will leave objectives, combining activities on also an engineer whose career was remains to be seen. —RACHEL TREECE

12 VOXMAGAZINE.COM | 11.30.17 PHOTO BY CLAIRE ROUNKLES; ILLUSTRATION BY ALEXANDRA WOZNICZKA BASED ON PHOTO BY EMIL LIPPE 11.30.17 | VOXMAGAZINE.COM 13