The governance committee of the University of Missouri Board of Curators met via teleconference this morning to discuss how the 9-member board should be reconstituted if Missouri loses a Congressional district.

The committee’s recommendation is that the 9th member would be an at-large appointment from within the state.

Currently, board members, who are appointed by the governor, come from each of the state’s 9 Congressional districts. But many experts believe the state will lose a district after the 2010 Census because of population shifts nationwide.

The General Assembly offered one solution last session. Both houses passed a bill that would have given the 9th vote to the student curator. The Board of Curators, which has vehemently opposed over the years giving a vote to a student representative, got its way this summer when it successfully lobbied Gov. Matt Blunt to veto the bill.

The curators object to a student curator vote because they say reserving a spot for a constituent group is short-sided and that board members should represent the interests of all stakeholders. They also have argued that students don’t have enough life experience and business know-how to have fiduciary responsibility over such a large enterprise.

Proponents of giving the student curator a vote have countered saying that student tuition accounts for more than half of the university’s operating budget and so students have a special stake in the university.

In a November letter to the governance committee, Curator Don Walsworth discussed the history of the issue, the possible upcoming change in congressional districts, how other university boards are constituted, and possible options for the Board of Curators to consider.

The committee’s recommendation does not necessarily preclude a student from being appointed to the at-large position if a governor was so inclined, though that seems unlikely since curators serve 6 year terms. The committee’s recommendation will go before the full board which will meet later this week at UMSL.

And in any case, as some curators pointed out during this morning’s teleconference, the board’s decision will only be a recommendation. The final decision will be up to lawmakers.