Students and on-lookers across the country had many different reactions to African-American student activist group Concerned Student 1950’s recent protests, which led to former UM System President Tim Wolfe leaving his position. The events brought racial discrimination to the forefront of conversations about the university. But have they affected the number of student withdrawing from or choosing to stay at MU?
According to university statistics, in 2015, 237 students withdrew from MU between the first day of classes and November 16. During the same period last year, 276 students withdrew from school; that’s 15 percent more than this year. It is unclear how many students withdrew during the week following Wolfe’s resignation, and MU declined requests for an interview to comment further.
But what about prospective students? To find out how high schoolers are reacting to these events, KBIA talked to several high school counselors in the St. Louis and Kansas City areas. Tracy Percy, the head counselor at St. Charles West High School, said her students have not changed plans to attend MU and doesn’t think it will hurt future enrollment.
“I probably have nine [or] ten, and nobody has changed their mind,” said Percy.
Neil Corriston, a counselor at Center High School in Kansas City – a school with a 75 percent black student population – said his students have real interests in the campus climate after the protests and that they have gotten good feedback.
“A lot of them were kind of wondering what’s going on, but for the most part, most of the students have come to campus before, they think it’s a beautiful campus,” said Corriston. “Because our school is actually fairly small, they know students down there and they’ve talked with them, and some of our students down there have helped kind of assuage their concerns.”
Corriston said some of his students who are considering MU as their college choice received emails from the university addressing the events on campus. He says his students have a true interest in those issues.
“It’s definitely not something that our kids want to just sweep under the rug,” said Corriston. “They’re growing up. They’re learning a lot of things and the big world is going to be readily in their face about that.”
Another counselor, Jeff Buckman from Eureka High School near St. Louis, said he thinks parents care more about the protest events than students do, but their reactions still don’t sway just one way.
“I have some that might say, ‘Well, I’m a little hesitant now because of what’s going on,’ and I’ll have some saying, ‘Oh, well look how proactive Mizzou is and look at all the change that’s happening,’ and so you’re going to have both sides of the coin there,” said Buckman
As far as whether or not MU will experience long-term effects in enrollment, Buckman said it’s too early to tell.
“A lot of the applications have already been submitted prior to that event,” said Buckman. “The kids are applying in August and September before [the protests] even happened. So I think we’re going to see a bigger picture of who’s actually choosing Mizzou; that’s going to be next semester.”
Buckman acknowledged that future enrollment could still be a concern for MU, but he said he thinks the events aren’t turning students away.
“I think they can use it as a learning process overall and then not shy away from things that are happening on a college campus, because they’re going to happen anywhere,” said Buckman. “But I never had a student yet come to me and say ‘Well, I’m hesitant looking at Mizzou because of [the protests].’ They’re aware of it, absolutely, but it’s not shying them away from applying there or considering there yet.”
