Although University of Missouri System President Tim Wolfe's resignation was sudden, the circumstances that led to it were not.
If there is an object lesson in this episode, it is that any leader's failure to listen and respond to constituents - in this case, students - escalates conflict and invites turmoil.
Wolfe, the leader of the four-campus system, announced his resignation at a specially called Monday meeting of the school's Board of Curators and said he takes "full responsibility for the frustration" expressed by students who complained the university's response to racial problems was insufficient.
That frustration has been escalating for some time. Although some students tie it to the August 2014 shooting death of Michael Brown, a black teenager, by a white police officer in Ferguson, others argue it extends further into the past.
The recent controversy began with episodes of racially tinged graffiti and threats on campus. A perceived lack of response by university officials prompted black protesters to block Wolfe's car during the school's Oct. 10 Homecoming parade.
The parade may not have been the proper venue, but similarly inappropriate was Wolfe's unwillingness to engage the protesters - who were dispersed by police - or his waiting a month to apologize for his lack of a response.
In the aftermath of that standoff, graduate student Jonathan Butler on Nov. 2 began a hunger strike to call attention to the issue. Among his demands was Wolfe's removal.
His cause was joined during the weekend by more than 30 black members of the university's football team, who announced they would not participate in football-related activities until Wolfe resigned or was removed. The announcement preceded this Saturday's scheduled game with BYU in Kansas City, which carries significant monetary implications.
On Sunday evening, the Missouri Students Association, which represents the university system's 27,000 undergraduates, sent a letter to the governing body calling for Wolfe to step down, which the president did the following day.
Some observers may suggest a resentful Butler single-handedly toppled a university president, but that would be an oversimplification.
Butler's hunger strike, however, was the catalyst that focused attention on an ongoing problem, just as Brown's death in Ferguson awakened the public to the ills investigated and revealed in a subsequent report by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Although society progressively is becoming more enlightened, racism among individuals has not been eradicated. However, institutions - representing education, government, law enforcement, etc. - must continue efforts to prevent and punish racism.
The officials who operate those institutions must listen and respond to people who are intimidated and victimized by discrimination. They must do so because it is the right thing to do.