Mizzou Mayhem: One Year Later

The University of Missouri is making efforts to rebuild it’s image after the protests of November 9th, 2015 and the collapse of the leadership structure that same day. One year later, ABC 17 News is investigating the state of the system to find out what has changed. “The biggest price the University of Missouri-Columbia has paid with the events of last year is that it alienated people who love this institution. But, they just got so mad at how they handled the situation, from whichever side you sit. They were like, ‘That was ridiculous!'” said Renee Hulshof, a member of the UM system review commission put in place by state lawmakers. On November 2nd, 2016 Dr. Mun Choi was named the new system president, Tim Wolfe’s replacement. You’ll remember Wolfe resigned as system president November 9th, 2015. Today, there are fewer students, fewer football fans, and faculty still without permanent jobs. Hank Foley is one of those faculty members serving in interim as Mizzou’s chancellor. Before he came to Mizzou, he was a leader at Penn State during the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal. There, he got a first hand lesson in dealing with a major campus image crisis. “I think it was at Penn State where I learned aphorism, if you’ve got lemons, make lemonade,” said Foley. Foley says this experience may help him to try to turn around the sour situation at Mizzou. One of the biggest obstacles the University is up against is a drop in enrollment. Enrollment is down by 2,182 students this fall semester at Mizzou. This drop along with rising expenses and strategic investments cost the university to lose $24.7 million dollars. So, what’s the strategy to turn this around? “If you’re gonna make money, you’ve gotta spend some money to get there,” said Foley. That money is being spent on marketing the University. “Everything from product placement on billboards and in major newspapers, new social media strategies… We’re not going to restore enrollment by waiting for that to happen,” said Foley. ABC 17 News was able to obtain the dollar amount the University has spent on advertising and marketing through a records request. Two years before the protests (November 2013- November 2014) the University system spent $244,660 on marketing. The year before the protests (November 2014- November 2015) it spent $172,019. In the year after the protests (November 2015- November 2016) there was a significant jump in spending. The total spent was $407,007. The football team and attendance at home games have also been struggling. “There’s good and bad years and this is one of those years there aren’t many fans,” said Cindy Erwin, a tailgater. “I think people are mad at the establishment,” said Walter Farwell, a Mizzou football fan. Here are home game attendance numbers:
You can see from this chart there are about 20% fewer fans at games this current season. “It’s kind of painful, I’ll admit it. But if it’s painful for me imagine what it’s like to be one of the young men on the team or the coaches,” said Foley. There’s another group still feeling some pain from last fall. “I think the hurt still lies among some of our alum,” said Foley. “Many of them, not all of them, many of them were embarrassed,” said Tom Hiles, the Vice Chancellor for University Advancement. “In the immediate aftermath of November 9th [2015], we lost about $5 million in support of commitments already made… We were in crisis mode,” said Hiles. The donations department has made up some lost ground and even broke record high donations in certain areas, but still faces concern from alumni. “One of the challenges we have is we still have a lot of interims on campus, so when you are trying to do major deals, leadership gifts, folks want to know… who is in charge?” said Hiles. Here are the current interim positions in the chancellor’s office, the provost’s office and the list of deans at Mizzou:


The UM system has put aside $1 million dollars to, “Entice more people in minoritized communities who are interested to come try out Mizzou,” said Foley. A goal was also put in place to raise the percentage of minority faculty from 6.7% to 13.4% in 4 years. “We don’t have a problem with the end goal, we have a problem with the timeline, 4 years?!” said Hulshof. Not only were some students, alum and faculty concerned with the state of the university, lawmakers were too. In response they created a UM System review commission to oversee spending, diversity, and the leadership structure. The commission will present its recommendations December 31rst, 2016. “They [the university] really needs to be doing self exams on a regular basis. Not just when crisis happens. ‘Oh, we’ve had this happen, let’s do a diversity audit. Oh, we had this happen, lets do a climate study,'” said Hulshof. As leaders wait for those findings, Foley explains his strategy in the meantime, to focus on a “new” Mizzou. “You learn how to look for the positive things to accentuate and remind people of the 99 out of 100 things that you are doing very, very well,” said Foley. The UM system has also hired the Association of Governing Boards (AGB) to work as a consultant. ABC 17 News is told some of the main focuses from ABG are to improve access, affordability and accountability in the UM system.