Council hopes to raise funds
The Mizzou Flagship Council has formed a new political action committee.
Published Oct. 19, 2007
A private organization that was formed to promote MU in the state legislature is looking to build a fund of $100,000 to increase its political sway.
The Mizzou Flagship Council presented its goals to the MU Faculty Council on Thursday and asked the council members to solicit funds for the organization.
Mizzou Political Action Committee President Charlie Digges said the creation of the Flagship Council was necessary for the future of MU.
"We want to work closely with the system, all of the campuses and also the curators to promote this campus and to make sure that it will always remain the flagship campus of the state," Digges said.
The Mizzou Political Action Committee is separate from the Flagship Council, but the two organizations work closely together.
MU has never had a private group to advocate for the university until the formation of the Flagship Council, Digges said.
"All of the campuses in the state had advocacy groups, except for one," Digges said.
Digges said the Flagship Council, as a political action committee, is designed to have an influence in the legislature to promote MU.
"There was a continuing deterioration between our campus — and really system — in the legislature," Digges said.
Mizzou Flagship Council President Richard Mendenhall said the council plans to work with the legislature, and the effort would cross party lines.
"We firmly are for one thing," he said. "It's what we call the Mizzou Party."
Mendenhall said having an influence in the legislature requires a strong political action committee.
The Mizzou Political Action Council has already raised $37,000, Flagship Council Executive Director Dianne Drainer said.
Mendenhall said any amount less than $100,000 would be ineffective in influencing the state legislature.
"We are not going to hand out money to legislators until we get $100,000 in there, because we want them to think we're dead serious," Mendenhall said. "We know how money works in terms of trying to buy votes. I hate the concept, but it's a reality."
Although Mendenhall said it was necessary to work with the legislature, he wasn't afraid to speak out against issues, including tuition caps and restrictions on research.
"A restriction on tuition is going to be a long-term disaster for us if we can't get this thing turned around or find other federal money," Mendenhall said.
Mendenhall said the group campaigned in the legislature during the debate on the stem-cell research restriction. He said these kinds of restrictions would stop research opportunities that would hurt MU as a whole.
"We lost millions of dollars here in terms of our new building in what we could have done in health science and so forth, because they tried to restrict research and academic freedom," Mendenhall said.
Mendenhall said legislative interference sets a bad precedent.
"You get a restriction on academic research, like Hitler did and some other people did, this is bad news long term," Mendenhall said.
Mendenhall called on the MU community to act, listing times when Columbia citizens rallied behind MU, including the university's founding and the preservation of the Columns after Academic Hall burned down.
He said Flagship Council supporters hope that MU's supporters across the state will continue to support it.