Democrats begin filibuster on SMSU name change

By Lee Logan

Published Feb. 15, 2005

On the Senate floor, there was no love for Southwest Missouri State University on Valentine's Day.

During a filibuster of the bill to change SMSU's name to "Missouri State University," it seems every major issue in the state was discussed ' except the name change. At press time, no vote had been taken.

Early in the debate, beginning about 4:30 p.m. on Monday, Sen. Rita Heard Days, D-St. Louis, proposed an amendment to the bill to require the Senate to address other priorities during the 2005 session before addressing the name-change issue.

Debate on Days' amendment continued into the night, with several Democratic senators discussing many of the issues Gov. Matt Blunt mentioned in his State of the State Address, including Medicaid and education funding.

"The Democrats are saying, &#39Let's talk about the issues,'" Sen. Pat Dougherty, D'St. Louis, said.

Debate on the issue resumes today, but no one is sure what might happen. Graham has said he "will spend as much time necessary to convince his colleagues (the name change) is a bad idea."

The filibuster could last the rest of the week, or a vote could occur between Graham and Senate Republicans reach a compromise.

Early in the debate, there was a brief discussion between Days and Sen. Norma Champion, R-Springfield, about the substance of the bill.

Champion, the bill's sponsor, said her bill would strengthen higher education in Missouri.

"We have an opportunity to attract businesses," Champion said. "We have an opportunity to attract out-of-state students."

Days and other Democrats continued to stress that the name change is not one of the state's priorities.

"We have, as a General Assembly, many critical issues facing this state," Days said. "Issues we should take care of first before we deal with the name change."

Under Senate rules, filibusters can be broken by a simple majority vote. Senate President Pro Tem Michael Gibbons would first need to call a previous question on the bill.

If a majority of the senators in attendance agreed to take a vote, the Senate would be required to vote on the bill immediately.

At 7 p.m. Monday, there was a break in the action when the Senate went into recess so a committee could vote on a bill to ban human cloning in the state.

The bill, which would significantly set back stem-cell research, passed the Senate Judiciary and Civil and Criminal Jurisprudence Committee.

It will now pass to the Senate floor for debate.

By the end of the night, Sen. John Dolan, R-St. Charles, entered the debate and criticized Democrats for spending the whole night disparaging Blunt's budget recommendations.

At one point, debate shifted to higher-education funding. Sen. Victor Callahan, D-Independence, said the Senate should try to lower tuition costs for college students in Missouri.

"We need to get lower tuition costs so middle-class kids ' the heart and soul of this country ' can afford to go (to college)," Callahan said.

Callahan also voiced support for granting voting powers to the student representatives to the UM system Board of Curators.

"I think there's a name change somewhere on the floor here," Dougherty said sarcastically. "It's all a game we're playing, similar to a Shakespearean play."