UM President Gary Forsee

In a hastily-called conference call this morning, the University of Missouri Board of Curators unanimously passed a resolution opposing a potential veto of its two highest-priority building projects under consideration by Gov. Jay Nixon.

University President Gary Forsee said that Nixon’s office told him on Wednesday that Nixon was considering vetoing H.B. 22 to help fill a last-minute multi-million dollar state budget shortfall.

Included in that bill is the funding for two long sought-after university projects — $28 million for the Benton-Stadler science complex at the St. Louis campus and $31 for a new Ellis Fischel Cancer Center on the Columbia campus. Both projects were originally to be funded from the transfer of $350 million from the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority (MOHELA), but Nixon stalled those projects after MOHELA ran out of money to fund the projects.

Forsee said that a veto of the bill could delay the two projects or cancel them altogether. Forsee noted that Nixon is considering supporting a bond issue through which those projects could be funded. But he and other curators did not support that idea because there would be no guarantee that the bond issue, which would have to go to voters for approval, would pass. On top of that, the university projects would have to compete with other state projects to be on the list of funded projects.

“In my view, this would be a double hit to the University of Missouri and is unacceptable in terms of the state’s commitment to higher education,” Forsee said.

He added that the state has continually gone to higher education first to fill budget shortfalls in the past, which has led to larger class sizes, large tuition hikes, and non-competitive faculty salaries. He said he understood the state’s budget pressures.

“But the state does have a lot of flexibility,” Forsee said. “And higher education is at a tipping point…I want to make sure that others are also making sacrifices.”

Curator Judith Haggard noted that the state needs to uphold its commitments, otherwise why would the university uphold its own, such as the university’s agreement to a tuition freeze this year in exchange for flat appropriations.

Don Downing, a recent Nixon appointee to the board from Webster Groves, said that Forsee’s proposed resolution was too adversarial. He worried that the stern language would alienate Nixon, who he noted has been a strong advocate for higher education. So he suggested toning down some of the wording, such as phrases such as “totally unacceptable.” So the board agreed to say “deeply troubled” instead.

Forsee planned to call Nixon’s office later today to relay the university’s position and the content of the board’s resolution.

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