Emerson College in Boston was the site of multiple anti-Israel protests this spring that had to be cleared by police. Now, in a related development, enrollment at the school is down, and they’re laying off staff members.
Longtime readers know that I am a graduate of Emerson. It brings me no joy to report this.
From Boston.com:
Emerson College announces layoffs amidst enrollment decline linked to campus protestsFollowing an enrollment decline, Emerson College, in an email sent to faculty and staff Tuesday, announced that it will lay off staff and not fill some vacant positions in fiscal year 2025, according to The Boston Globe.The college is blaming the enrollment decline in part on “negative press and social media” from the pro-Palestinian demonstrations and subsequent arrests.In the early morning hours of April 25, 118 student protesters were arrested by Boston police when officers swept through the pro-Palestine encampment at Boylston Place Alley, a public right-of-way that leads to the State Transportation Center.President Jay Bernhardt wrote that he expects the enrollment decline to last only one year, but the effects will ripple through the budget for the next several.“We attribute this reduction to multiple factors, including national enrollment trends away from smaller private institutions, an enrollment deposit delay in response to the new FAFSA rollout, student protests targeting our yield events and campus tours, and negative press and social media generated from the demonstrations and arrests,” Bernhardt wrote in an email shared with the Globe…Boston.com could not reach members of the Emerson Staff Union in time for publication…“It doesn’t make any sense,” said Illona Yosefov, an instructional technologist at the college and chief steward of the union. Yosefov is also a member of the Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine.
This was the scene at Emerson back in April.
More from CBS News:
Emerson was one of several Boston-area colleges that saw pro-Palestinian protests inspired by student protesters at Columbia University. Protesters set up tents in a public alley next to Boylston Street in April. They said they wouldn’t leave until Emerson called for a ceasefire in Gaza and divested from companies and institutions doing business with IsraelOn April 25, Boston police in riot gear broke up the protests, arresting 108 at the camp. Four officers were injured during the arrests. Police said protesters were violating city ordinances by camping out in the alley, which is not solely owned by Emerson.Emerson said the enrollment decline is believed to be “a one-year phenomenon,” but it will still require “immediate spending reductions” to make up for lost tuition and housing revenue.
Parents of prospective students touring campus this past spring must have seen the protests, encampments, and all the unrest.
Who can blame them for choosing to go elsewhere?
Featured image via YouTube.
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