While students were away from campus on summer break, MU still saw key news stories that broke during then, such as a sizable increase in freshman enrollment numbers.
According to the MU News Bureau, MU had 5,460 students in the new freshman class pay enrollment deposits for the fall semester, a 15% increase from the 4,696 from 2018’s freshman class.
MU saw a decrease in enrollment after the 2015 student protests, but since the hiring of Chancellor Alexander Cartwright, enrollment numbers have steadily increased.
“We are delighted that so many students have chosen to make Mizzou their academic home,” Cartwright said in a MU News Bureau news release from May 2. “From our outstanding and comprehensive academic offerings to an unparalleled campus experience, there is no better choice these students could have made. We can’t wait to welcome these new Tigers to campus.”
###Hawley calls MU’s Confucius Institute a ‘threat to academic freedom’###
In a July 24 statement to Chancellor Cartwright, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., urged MU to reconsider its association with its Confucius Institute.
The MU Confucius Institute is part of 500 other institutes across the U.S. and college campuses, which are all funded by Hanban, a subsidiary of China’s Ministry of Education. It aims to promote Chinese culture to the Columbia community through organizing classes and events.
In his statement, Hawley said that when he asked FBI Director Christopher Wray about Confucius Institutes, Wray replied that they are “part of China’s soft power strategy and influence.”
However, in 2011, former Chancellor Brady Deaton dismissed concerns of China exerting pressure onto the school during its opening ceremony.
“This is an opportunity,” he said, according to Missourian reporting, “to broaden the horizons of students of the University of Missouri and the community.”
While MU has still yet to take action regarding the MU Confucius Institute branch, The Missourian states that 10 U.S. colleges, including the University of Iowa and the University of Chicago, have closed their Confucius Institute branches.
###MU makes appeal to NCAA postseason bans###
On July 18, MU made a final appeal to the NCAA’s postseason bans on the football, softball and baseball teams issued in January, citing academic misconduct, according to Missourian reporting.
From previous Maneater reporting, the suspension occurred after a 2016 investigation of MU athletics tutor Yolanda Kumar completing classwork for 12 student athletes. Kumar claimed the athletics department pressured her to commit the misconduct.
As of Aug. 20, the NCAA has yet to release its decision regarding the appeal.
