Gary Forsee, the president of the University of Missouri system, announced a hiring freeze at the four campuses earlier today. Click here to read his full letter to the university community about the freeze.

A story in tomorrow’s paper will flesh out this story a bit more. But I want to highlight one point in Forsee’s letter that I thought was interesting. First, he notes that the economic troubles are expected to continue during what is normally a strong time around the holiday shopping period.

Then, he writes, “At the same time, the recent national and state elections provide a renewed opportunity to focus on the challenges at hand and possible solutions.”

Hmm. I sense some pro-Nixon and pro-Obama sentiment here. What do you think?

In any case, I am also linking here to previous blog posts that include letters from presidents at other area institutions about how the economy is affecting them. Click here to read letters from University of Illinois system President B. Joseph White and St. Louis University President the Rev. Lawrence Biondi. Also, here is a letter that Forsee sent out last month about the economic situation and a blog post about endowment losses could affect financial aid at the University of Missouri. Enjoy!

The Grade is the St. Louis region’s premier blog on education and child welfare. To read other recent posts, go to www.stltoday.com/thegrade.