Blunt nixes bill adding student to Mizzou curators
Gov. Matt Blunt just announced that he’s vetoed the bill, approved last session by the Legislature, that created a student position on the Mizzou Board of Curators.
Blunt called the change “riddled with problems…”
“The current make-up of the University of Missouri’s governing board carefully balances numerous factors and interests,” Blunt said in a statement. “Any fundamental change to the board’s construction should be crafted to solve problems, not create them.
“This legislation would have created ‘stakeholder’ representatives which is a significant problem because today the nine curators represent the university as a whole rather than a specific university interest, cause or stakeholder group.
“The legislation would have also been inconsistent with the statutory method used to select these curators and the student curator would only serve a short time compared with the other board members.”
The bill, Senate Bill 873, ”makes the ninth voting member of the University of Missouri Board of Curators a student representative, if Missouri loses a congressional seat in the 2010 census.”
Blunt’s release says the bill “has been controversial among higher education leaders, drawing criticism from around the state. In addition, language in the bill raises several concerns, among them:
1)”This legislation would create ’stakeholder’ representatives with voting authority on the Board of Curators where currently none of the nine curators represent a specific group of university stakeholders.
2)The bill as written would make it extremely difficult to find a student whose status of enrollment matches the student curator’s term on the Board. This would significantly limit governors’ ability to select the best person for the position.
3)”Student curator representatives are transitional members of the board and experience much greater turnover than its regular members.
4)”A new policy at the University of Missouri would be inconsistent with other education institutions across the state.
5)The makeup of the board is unclear if Missouri does not lose a congressional district after the 2010 census, but does so in a later census.
6)The potential to add an uneven element to the current climate of the voting members of the board by giving one area or region a stronger vote over others. This power would present potential conflicts of interests.
Blunt’s action will keep the current Board of Curator structure in place, his staff notes.
No mention of how the Senate supported this bill 31-2 and the House 100-47.
Students repeatedly presented numerous replies to all of those objections. See any floor speeches or committee testimony, or just look at the broad bipartisan support the bill received.
His veto is clear instance of influential appointed board members getting their way. Does Blunt really want to go down in Missouri history as the Governor most unfriendly to students? How ridiculously insulting.
Blah blah blah. This monstrocity should never have passed the legislature in the first place. It failed on many occasions in previous years sometimes not even getting out of committee.
Great move Governor!
What a crock! But what should we expect from such a pathetic governor? It wasn’t enough that he was a lame duck, one of the least popular governors in the country, and only elected because of Daddy Blunt. He had to go out of his way to veto a largely symbolic vote that passed with overwhelming bipartisan support. The end of this governor’s term cannot get here soon enough. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out Matty…Hope Daddy has a nice lobbying gig to hook you up with.
And the University Curators…Is there a more shameless group of power hungry fools? Great job telling the students of the university you are supposed to represent to sit down and shut up. It’s really nice when they argue against the bill by saying how the students aren’t intelligent enough to be on the board…great plug for your University. Maybe instead sending your useless lobbyists (yes you Steve Knorr) out to kill a symbolic bill, you should focus on actually getting some funding for the university. Maybe then you wouldn’t be so cash strapped that you have to over-enroll so badly that freshmen are being forced to live off-campus in apartments instead of dorms. What a joke. Sadly, this university is going downhill fast. And it’s no surprise given the people that are steering the ship. I’m a proud Mizzou alum, but I would have to think twice before sending my kids there now given the current administration.
Well then, the future of Missouri looks pretty bright after all.