Student leaders of organizations that were funded through the multicultural fee hosted a public town hall meeting in Allen Auditorium Monday night to discuss the defunding of their organizations.

On Thursday, April 2, leadership from the Legion of Black Collegians, Asian American Association, Association of Latin American Students, Four Front and the Queer Liberation Front received an email from Student Affairs asking them to meet regarding updates they needed to be aware of. The organizations were informed at the meeting, which took place the following day, that they would no longer receive funding through the multicultural student fee starting in July 2026.

The university also informed LBC that they would no longer be recognized as a student government. LBC has been recognized as a government since its founding in 1969.

Additionally, the Missouri Student Association was informed on Monday, April 6, that one of their auxiliary organizations, Filling In the Space, which is dedicated to helping minority students get involved in major Mizzou programs such as Tour Team, MSA, Summer Welcome and the Alumni Association Student Board, could no longer receive MSA funding.

Monday’s town hall was jointly hosted by LBC, ALAS, QLF and FITS. It began at 7 p.m., and the seats in Allen Auditorium filled immediately. Students lined the walls of the auditorium; many others were told to watch the event digitally once the room reached capacity. Classrooms in the Arts & Science Building and The Shack at the Student Center were filled with students who watched the event via a livestream that was broadcast on both ALAS and LBC’s Instagram accounts.

LBC President Amaya Morgan expressed outrage at the university’s decision to defund the organizations during the town hall.

“We work tirelessly to give our students community,” Morgan said. “So for them to already tell us that we’re supposed to do the job that they are supposed to do, and then take the money away to do that job, is entirely disrespectful to minority students.”

In the April 3 meeting, Angela King Taylor, vice chancellor for student affairs, told the five organizations that they would need to register as Recognized Student Organizations next school year. Mizzou has over 600 RSOs, which must all submit budget requests. This process can take several months.

“We’ve seen this funding for all of these RSOs, mind you over 600 student orgs, has been ever decreasing,” Asher McFerran, vice president of QLF, said. “So what this means is now all of us who represent so many on campus are going to be, like I said, competing with 600 plus orgs, and they’ve told us that there is a (budget) cap and there was no room for negotiation.”

Until the defunded organizations register as RSOs and their budget is approved, they will have no funding. They cannot carry funds over from this school year. In addition to the loss of their current funding model, leaders were also informed that RSOs have a $1,500 cap for individual events and a $3,000 cap for overall spending. LBC Vice President Desmond Jones called these changes unfeasible.

“The banquet that we’re having soon (is) in the Reynolds Alumni Center — just to book the room is $400, to have tables that went into that room brings the total up to, like, $1,734,” Jones said. “So to have a $1,500 cap for the entire semester per event … it is very unfeasible for us to do very much of anything.”

ALAS Vice President Mia Ramirez recorded the April 3 meeting, some of which was shared at the town hall. In one part of the recording, King Taylor told leaders that all student organizations would be restructured into three tiers: RSOs, Sponsored Student Organizations and University-Sponsored Organizations.

King Taylor referred to the third tier as “true university programs,” like Welcome Week leaders and the Campus Activities Programming Board.

Several other clips from the meeting with King Taylor and other officials were played, many of which elicited audible audience reactions.

Each organization executive expressed frustration with how the university presented the information to them, including FITS director Trinity Shields, who wasn’t invited to the Monday morning meeting where MSA President Noah Schnarre and Speaker of the Senate Jaelyn Woodley were informed about FITS’ defunding.

“When I tell you I didn’t know anything waking up this morning until I got a phone call, that’s what I knew,” Shields said to the crowd. “…I shouldn’t have gotten that call this morning. I should have been in that meeting.”

According to King Taylor, the decision follows a July 2025 Department of Justice memo issued by then Attorney General Pam Bondi that outlines how the Trump administration plans to enforce Title IX and Title VI. This memo identifies itself as a list of “Best Practices” to avoid legal issues, which are not mandated requirements. It says that any program or organization using “demographic-driven criteria” does not follow the federal government’s guidelines.

“DEI is not a Black people issue,” Morgan said in an interview with The Maneater. “It’s not a Latino issue. It affects everybody. No matter where you come from, what you look like, who you are, what you believe in. It affects everybody. And that’s what we fight for and usually what other organizations don’t.”

Organization leaders in the town hall also took issue with a lack of communication and potential solutions offered by the university after they decided to follow the memo’s guidance.

“It’s a suggestion, cool,” Jones said. “And if you have to do it and your hands are tied, I completely understand it. But coming to me with no solutions … What do you want me to do?”

Jones mentioned at the meeting and in the town hall that the organizations affected do the work of university administration by supporting and advocating for minority students. ALAS president Karina Franquiz said the funding cut hurt more because it devalues their work on campus.

“It’s just so disrespectful and disheartening to see that all of the hard work that the people before me put into this organization is getting kicked in the face,” Franquiz said.

During a period for audience questions, students raised concerns that the university’s decision did not just reallocate funding, but changed how Mizzou recognizes and supports minority students.

After one of these audience comments, Ramirez said she stayed at Mizzou because of ALAS and Franquiz. Ramirez, who moved to Columbia from Bronx, New York, was concerned about the lack of diversity at Mizzou when she first got here.

“My transfer papers were filled out,” Ramirez said. “I just never pressed submit because of my community, and ALAS, because of my community and my story, which is a multicultural story, which is also being affected by this.”

McFerran was also concerned about finding community at Mizzou. Before arriving on campus, McFerran was unsure if Mizzou would be safe for them.

“Coming to this campus, the first thing I looked up was, ‘Would I be safe here as a queer and transgender person?’” McFerran said. “That is a basic priority that (people) should be allowed and shouldn’t even have to worry about when they come to this campus, and yet, here we are.”

Morgan said the administration’s decision was hurtful because it diminished the organizations that first made her feel welcome at Mizzou. She also believes the decision undermined the impact she and LBC’s legacy have made at Mizzou.

“(They have) disrespected and thrown away all the work that I’ve done,” Morgan said. “All the conversations that I had with that stupid administration about student inclusion and belonging. It hurts so bad.”

The university did not respond to The Maneater when asked to comment on the defunding.

This story was originally published on The Maneater on April 8, 2026.