A group of Columbia City Council members and a group aimed at supporting the city's unsheltered population are pushing back on rhetoric by University of Missouri President Mun Choi following the Sept. 27 shooting that killed Stephens College student Aiyanna Williams.

On the Monday following the shooting, Sept. 29, Choi met with members of local media to discuss his concerns about downtown safety. During that conference, he suggested the city should adopt ordinances on loitering and intersection panhandling, after earlier citing a community survey in which more than 40% of respondents said they do not perceive walking in downtown Columbia to be safe.

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