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.