Undergraduate enrollment is down more than 2,100 students, or almost 8 percent, this semester compared to fall 2015, and almost three-quarters of that loss comes from the freshman class.

As of the first day of classes, Mizzou enrolled 4,799 freshmen — the smallest class in almost a decade. That number is down more than 1,600 incoming freshmen from fall 2015.

University officials braced for a smaller freshman class for months following a string of events last fall that brought the campus under national scrutiny. Protests centered largely around matters of race led to deep divisions among the campus and community and to the resignation of the school’s top two leaders.

Preliminary data show a 12 percent decline in out-of-state undergraduate students, and a 6 percent decline of in-state undergraduate students compared to fall 2015.