Indulging the mob comes with a heavy tail expense.
Backstory: in 2015, the University of Missouri went nuts and caved to a vocal minority of ultra-liberal students.
“All of it began the first time some of you who know better, and are old enough to know better, let young people think that they had the right to choose the laws they will obey as long as they were doing it in the name of social protest.
Instapundit says it all:
Wreck your university to please a few dozen angry students and staff who by their very nature are never happy for long. Good plan.
Giving way to the mob, has led to this (via the WSJ):
Indulging protesters can be expensive, as the University of Missouri is discovering three years after students successfully demanded the resignation of the president and chancellor. Last week the school said it will have to eliminate 185 positions on top of 308 cut last year.
Apparently fewer parents want to send their kids to a school where activism eclipses academics. Between the fall 2015 and 2017 semesters, freshman enrollment dropped by 35%. Lost tuition accounts for $29 million of the university’s current $49 million budget shortfall.
In response, Mizzou has had to lay off employees, decline to renew expiring faculty contracts, and leave positions unfilled after retirements…
Missouri is learning the hard way that most students and parents believe a university should be a place for open inquiry run by administrators who will insist on it.