House candidates debate MU issues
ASUM sponsored the final debate between candidates running in local House races.
Published Oct. 26, 2004
Candidates for the 23rd, 24th and 25th district discussed university issues at their final debate on Monday night.
The Associated Students of the University of Missouri sponsored the debate, which took place at Cornell Auditorium.
Democratic incumbent Rep. Jeff Harris and Republican candidate Dan Fischbach debated for the 23rd District seat" Republican Ed Robb and Democratic candidate Travis Ballenger challenged each other in the 24th District race" and Democratic candidate Judy Baker represented the 25th District race until Republican candidate Bob Northup arrived late in the debate. Northup said he had to turn in an ethics paper, which is why he was late.
As the only female on the panel, Baker said she will bring diversity to the legislature and said she was excited by the amount of women in the audience.
Fischbach said he wants to represent MU because he is aware of tuition increases and the little support for higher education in the state legislature.
One of the main issues candidates debated was whether affirmative action should be used at MU and whether race-based scholarships should be allowed.
Robb said it does not make sense to restrict admission to any educational facility, because students should be judged on merit alone.
"At this time, higher education is not a right," Robb said. "However, any student who wants to pursue higher education can use the scholarships available to be able to attend school."
Diversity adds to the campus, Harris said, and should be considered along with several other factors when considering admission.
The panel also discussed issues affecting the mostly college-aged group, such as whether a student representative should be able to vote on the UM system Board of Curators. There is already student representative on the board, but the student cannot vote on system policy.
Although Fischbach said the board should consider student input, he said he does not believe students have the background to make major financial decisions.
Baker, however, said students should be allowed on the board because they provide a unique perspective.
"Students are the consumers of the education they receive at Mizzou, so they deserve to influence where their money is spent with one vote on the board," Baker said.
In final statements, Northup said he understands the importance of Columbia's economy resting on the university and he wants to focus on building a new health science center to attract students to MU.
"Boone County needs to elect Republicans because since there is a majority of Republicans in the house, we will be more effective than the Democrat candidates," Northup said.
Ballenger said he wants to promote a stem-cell research program because that would increase grants and further MU's reputation as the largest public research institution in Missouri.
In addition, he wants to work on getting a new engineering building and new health science center to attract students to MU.