Over the past decade, there has been a significant decline in Black student enrollment at the University of Missouri, according to new research published in the Columbia Missourian.
Researchers from the Missouri News Network determined that while overall enrollment at the university declined by roughly 10 percent, Black student enrollment declined by some 34 percent from 2013 to 2023. These declines were particularly pronounced in 2016 and 2017, following a series of anti-racism student protests on campus in 2015. By comparison, several similarly sized public institutions in the South and Midwest experienced increases in Black student enrollment.
Although the University of Missouri has typically experienced higher shares of Black graduates over the past decade, the gap between it and other public 4-year institutions is shrinking, while some have surpassed the University of Missouri altogether. In 2024, 7 percent of all graduates at the University of Georgia and Ohio State University were Black. At the University of Missouri, 5.4 percent of graduating students in 2024 were Black – a decrease from their peak of 6.72 percent in 2022.
Notably, other non-White racial groups have experienced an increase in enrollment at the university between 2013 and 2025. In this time period, Hispanic and Latino student enrollment grew by 78 percent, enrollment among students of multiple races grew by 75 percent, and Asian student enrollment grew by 31 percent. White student enrollment decreased by 9 percent – a significantly less pronounced decline compared to Black student enrollment.
In addition to declines in the university’s Black student population, there is a significant underrepresentation of Black professors at the University of Missouri. While the university’s total faculty grew by 10 percent from 2013 to 2023, the number of Black professors grew by just 1 percent. According to the university’s self-reported data, only 85 of more than 2,200 current faculty members are Black. Just 36 of these Black faculty members have tenure or tenure-track status.
