| | | From the "what goes around, comes around" department, the University of Missouri says "hi"! When will they stop trying to fit square pegs into circles?
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Mizzou Misery: Exclusive Emails Reveal the Brutal Backlash
amren.com
excerpt:
Mizzou’s vice chancellor for marketing and communications, Ellen De Graffenreid, received a disheartening email last fall at the pinnacle of the crisis on campus. A disgruntled parent wrote to the university’s Board of Curators, describing how her son, a sophomore, considered transferring out, while their two high-school-aged children “have all but eliminated Mizzou from their college list.”
Someone had forwarded the note to the university’s Department of Marketing and Communications, adding: “I’m sure you already know this but you have a PR nightmare on your hands.” De Graffenreid, in turn, forwarded it to the college’s leadership, adding the letter from a parent was “pretty representative of the middle of the road people we are losing.”
New correspondence reviewed by Heat Street and National Review depicts the cataclysmic backlash against the University of Missouri as its administrators grappled with demands from rowdy protestors, a hunger-striking grad student, and a boycotting football team. The protests ultimately toppled both the president and the chancellor.
In one instance, a retired professor wrote a prescient note to top university officials, cautioning that “serious backlash could result” and that “students making demands, protests, disrupting events or that kind of thing won’t sell well outstate.”
His prediction proved spot-on. The 7,400 pages of emails, reviewed exclusively by these two publications, reveal how Mizzou overwhelmingly lost the support of longtime sports fans, donors, and alumni. Parents and grandparents wrote in from around the country declaring that their family members wouldn’t be attending Mizzou after the highly publicized controversy. Some current students talked about leaving.
This passionate backlash doesn’t appear to have been a bluff. Already, freshman enrollment is down 25%, leaving a $32 million funding gap and forcing the closure of four dorms. The month after the protests, donations to the athletic department were a mere $191,000–down 72% over the same period a year earlier. Overall fundraising also took a big hit.
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[Editors Note: The remainder of the article is a timeline of events on campus, as well as a sampling of the email the school disclosed.]
heatst.com
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University of Missouri Plans for Cuts up to 8 Percent on Columbia Campus
amren.com
excerpt:
An enrollment loss of as many as 1,500 students and potential legislative cuts could result in an overall budget reduction of 5 to 8 percent for the University of Missouri’s Columbia campus.
The likelihood of cuts is the top agenda item for meetings of the Council of Deans, College of Arts and Science Dean Michael O’Brien said Friday. O’Brien is trying to protect course offerings and keep department chairs informed as the cuts’ magnitude becomes clearer, he said. O’Brien likely will have to keep faculty positions open to achieve the reduction, he said.
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MU Vice Chancellor for Finance Rhonda Gibler developed the budget projections based on a loss of tuition revenue, the statutory limitation on tuition increases and the likelihood of a cut in state appropriations, Mary Jo Banken, executive director of the MU News Bureau wrote in an email Friday.
The number of incoming freshmen is expected to drop by about 900, and total enrollment is expected to be 1,300 to 1,500 fewer than the fall enrollment of 35,424. {snip}
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Gibler’s projection for lost revenue is $20 million to $25 million, Banken wrote.
The Missouri House next week will consider an appropriation bill that cuts $7.6 million from the UM System administration’s allocation of tax dollars, or about half of the tax support for that university function. It would represent a cut of about 10 percent overall if not mitigated by adjusting campus budgets.
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Demonstrations over racism on campus that drew international attention and discontent among graduate assistants over health insurance and other issues contributed to the enrollment decrease, said Nicole Monnier, vice chairwoman of the Faculty Council and an associate teaching professor in the Department of German and Russian Studies.
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“We all understand that the forces of darkness are gathering, and there will have to be cuts next year,” she said. |
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