Curators to meet today in St. Louis
Published Oct. 7, 2005
The UM system Board of Curators will meet today for the first time this semester to discuss several topics, including naming the Life Sciences Center after U.S. Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo.
Board members also will discuss selling public bonds to pay for construction and debt and consider authorizing the construction of an addition to Schweitzer Hall.
In order to name the Life Sciences Center after Bond, the Board of Curators will have to approve a revision to the university's Collected Rules and Regulations. The revision would erase the requirement that a building's namesake be retired or deceased.
"Other buildings around campus have been named after politicians who were still alive but who retired from office," said UM system spokesman Joe Moore, citing the Hearnes Center, which was named after Warren E. Hearnes, the 46th governor of Missouri.
But Bill Lamberson, chairman of the Faculty Council, said altering the policy could cause trouble in the future.
"Changing these rules presents some risk that future scandal involving an honored person could result in embarrassment to the university," he said.
Another issue up for discussion is the sale of bonds to help cover debt incurred by MU Health Care in 1996 and 1998 and pay for new construction projects.
"About $222 million will go to refund existing university debt and achieve a lower cost of capital," said Nikki Krawitz, vice president for finance and administration. "About $128 million will go to new projects."
Krawitz said that paying off old debt with new debt was manageable because the new bonds would be sold at lower interest rates, which would reduce overall debt. Krawitz also said that miscellaneous fees, such as parking fees, would help pay off the debt.
The new construction projects include new residence halls on College Avenue, a swine research facility and additions to the Brewer Fieldhouse near Stankowski Field, Krawitz said. The bonds also include funding a new parking garage at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and new student housing at University of Missouri-St. Louis.
One project also covered by the sale of bonds is the $10 million, 25,000-square-foot addition to Schweitzer Hall, which would accommodate nine laboratories and a device that would allow scientists to collect molecular information.
"This addition will unite two halves of a department," said Gerald Hazelbauer, the chairman of the biochemistry department.
The department is involved in both medicine and agriculture.