Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts, revealed that freshman enrollment is declining for the 2024-2025 academic year, in part due to pro-Palestinian protests on campus.
University-related personnel e-mail University faculty and staff said the “size” of the fall semester’s new student body was “significantly lower” than they had hoped for, pointing to pro-Palestinian protests and “negative” press coverage as reasons for the low enrollment.
“We want to inform our community that, as this year’s university application fee payment deadline has passed, the number of first-year students enrolled for the fall 2024 semester is significantly lower than originally anticipated,” the email began.
The email also noted that the decline in enrollment was due to “multiple factors,” including data showing “a nationwide decline in enrollment to smaller, private institutions,” as well as “student protests” and “negative publicity and social media following demonstrations and arrests.”
BREAKING: Emerson College enrollment has dropped significantly in part due to the protests, and the college is planning to lay off staff, including faculty. pic.twitter.com/jt1NH5FyKQ
— Steve Maguire (@sfmcguire79) June 19, 2024
Emerson College Added According to CBS News, the university believes the low enrollment numbers it is currently experiencing are not permanent, but merely a “one-year phenomenon,” adding that it will implement “immediate spending reductions.”
However, due to low enrollment, Emerson College will be implementing staff cuts.
“We will limit staff and faculty recruitment next year and carefully review our existing programs and offerings to make savings for the future,” the university said, adding that it would “necessitate reducing some vacant and filled staff positions” and “in some cases” lay off some faculty members.
Emerson College was one of many universities across the nation where anti-Israel encampments and protests erupted on campus in support of the first encampment that began at Columbia University.
Madness! Columbia University protesters smash windows and barricade themselves inside the building
Jessica Schwalb (via Storyful)
More than 100 pro-Palestinian protesters gathered at Emerson College arrested This came after law enforcement officials removed an anti-Israel encampment on campus on April 25, according to Boston.com.
The protesters call According to an Instagram post by Students for Justice in Palestine at Emerson College, the group is calling for Israel to “full disclosure and divestment from Zionist organizations, an end to the repression of student activism,” and an “immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza.”
Breitbart News reached out to Emerson College for a statement but had not received a response as of press time.
