I don’t quite understand his decision to resign his position. He earned his bachelor’s degree in 1977 at Texas A & M, so he is about 60...maybe he is in a position to take early retirement, or else believes he can find a comparable position somewhere else.
You don’t do that with extortion demands.
You face them.
He has done a serious disservice to the University of Missouri.
Imagine you are him.
You tell your students “I am going to give the exam. I would encourage you to come and take it. If you don’t feel safe, then don’t come. But I am going to take a stand against this fear and I encourage you to do the same.”
In response you get threatened by non-students, threatened by students, threatened by the administration all because you didn’t cancel the class.
Is it worth it to stay? Do you see any choice you have but to capitulate to their demands or face an ever increasing barrage of threats and harassment?
No. You tell them “F__k you!” and walk out the door. They (students) don’t want to learn? Fine. Don’t learn. They (administration) don’t want you to teach? Fine. You won’t teach. They (non-student morons) want to threaten and harass you? Fine. I quit.
Shake the dust from your feet and leave the building before it completely burns down.
This is just the beginning and will spread quickly through academia.
Maybe he felt he can’t do his job under these conditions so it was resign or compromise his principles.
Maybe he was just FTFU with all of the BS.
If he was ordered to capitulate by the school administration, then resigning is the only option for him to keep his self-respect (and I do not mean self esteem).