Freshman enrollment at Mizzou down 20%, resulting in massive deficit

The University of Missouri, one of the original flashpoints of protests at colleges across the country, is reaping a bitter harvest this coming year as freshman enrollment and retention of existing students will be down by 1,500, according to an email sent by the interim chancellor, Hank Foley. Foley replaced Chancellor R. Bowen Liftin who resigned under pressure from protestors. Not only is freshman enrollment down 20%, but upper-class students are leaving the school in droves. This has created a budget shortfall of $32 million.

Columbia Tribune: “I am writing to you today to confirm that we project a very significant budget shortfall due to an unexpected sharp decline in first-year enrollments and student retention this coming fall,” Foley wrote in the memo addressed “Dear university community.” At the Regional Economic Development Inc. Board of Directors meeting Wednesday, Vice Chancellor for Operations Gary Ward discussed the university’s budget situation. A 5 percent budget cut would eliminate about $20 million from the budget, still leaving the university with a $10 million shortfall. He emphasized the decline was independent from legislative threats to cut state funding. On Tuesday, the Missouri House cut $1 million from the campus' allocation of state money and $7.6 million from UM System administrative funding. The measure still needs a final vote and consideration in the Senate. “Realize most of our expenses are people,” Ward said. Take “$32 million, and look at an average salary of $40,000, $50,000, and we’re talking about hundreds and hundreds of positions impacted.” The hiring freeze will only allow jobs “absolutely necessary to the mission” to be filled, Foley wrote. “Decisions to add faculty or staff must be exceptional, but will be left to the discretion of the deans, vice chancellors, vice provosts and the director of athletics.” Other steps to close the gap include elimination of raises except in conjunction with a promotion and tapping reserves for the remaining $10 million, Foley wrote. University administrators have increased the anticipated drop in enrollment from 900 in the fall to 1,500. The shortfall of revenue will be ongoing as a smaller freshman class moves toward graduation, Foley wrote. The campus will feel the cut to system administration because “critical functions provided by the system offices will need to be carried out on behalf of each of our campuses,” Foley wrote. “We at MU would probably bear a significant percent of the system reduction in order to maintain treasury, legal counsel, benefits administration and other services system administers.” To refresh your memory, here's what all the hubbub was about: Congrats to the Mizzou protesters on their fake protest. You -- in conjunction with your idiot football players who also went on strike -- have nearly killed a great university over a poop swastika, an alleged off campus racial slur that may not have even happened, and one racial slur on campus from a non-student in the past year. Oh, and your top faculty defender, Melissa Click, the woman who demanded muscle to confront student reporters on your quad, is suing saying her firing wasn't justified. Hope it was worth it. The protestors terrorized students for months, demanding they agree with their radical, anarchist agenda. It's amazing that any serious students remain. You would think this would be a valuable lesson to other college administrations, forcing them to grow a pair and stand up to the bullies. It won't happen. In the end, race, gender, sexual orientation, and other cultural factors will play into their decisions on how to handle the protesters' demands. Their constituency has never been the students, or even the faculty, but rather the leftist academic community who pass judgment on their actions.