MOHELA board to decide on sale

By Jedd Rosche

Published Sept. 26, 2006

The Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority Board will need "legislative approval" before finalizing the $350 million sale of its assets.

The board must first approve the sale at its Wednesday meeting, but to receive benefits of the sale, Missouri colleges and universities will have to wait until the Missouri General Assembly convenes again in January.

Gov. Matt Blunt announced the changes in a news release Monday afternoon, which stated "legislative approval" was a way to protect MOHELA board members from legal action from Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon.

"I support Director (Greg) Steinhoff's call for the board to include legislative approval as protection for MOHELA board members against frivolous lawsuits that could be filed by the attorney general or his secret third parties," Blunt stated in the release.

Blunt referred to Nixon's actions as "reckless," and "irresponsible conduct."

Blunt's office and Nixon's office were contacted on Monday afternoon, but neither were available for comment.

Rep. Judy Baker, D-Columbia, said the inclusion was a positive thing for Missouri students.

"I'm glad to see it moving forward," Baker said.

Baker said though Blunt always assured her that student interest would be protected, this motion will allow one more step for legislators to have input.

"We were assured that students would be protected when the board members would vote," Baker said.

She was aware from the beginning that deciding the fate of MOHELA would be a lengthy process, Baker said.

"We knew the plan had a long way to go before it would pass," Baker said.

The General Assembly's previous attempt to influence the sale of MOHELA was during the spring session in which the bill terminated before the end of the session.

Legislative action might offer General Assembly members the opportunity to eliminate a contested portion of the sale containing new wording prohibiting human embryonic stem cell research in any buildings paid for by the MOHELA sale.

Last week, the Missouri Development Finance Board passed a resolution to prohibit the research. The MOHELA board will vote on whether to approve the resolution Wednesday.

Rep. Ed Robb, R-Columbia, said he disagreed with the inclusion of the human embryonic stem cell research ban that was added last week.

"I would have preferred that was left out," Robb said.

UM system spokesman Joe Moore said the embryonic stem cell research addition was not what the UM system wanted.

"The University of Missouri would prefer not to have language that would limit research placed on our buildings," Moore said.

Moore also said though he was not aware of any specific discussions between Blunt and UM system President Elson Floyd, he maintained in close communications about the MOHELA sale.

"Dr. Floyd is in regular contact with the governor's office on the issue of funding capital needs on public higher education campuses," Moore said.

MU spokesman Christian Basi said there were two on-campus research projects that used Human Embryonic Stem Cell research.

"One of those is studying how miscarriages happen and how to stop them," Basi said. "The other is investigating how to keep the current federal line of stem cells well-maintained."

Basi said these projects did not include ones that used adult stem cells or animal embryonic stem cells.