Council opposes Senate vote
Published Feb. 9, 2007
In a reaction to the Senate Education Committee's passage of the higher education bill that includes the partial sale of the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority, the MU Faculty Council focused its attention to a resolution regarding the bill in its meeting Thursday.
Intercampus Faculty Council Representative Frank Schmidt proposed a first resolution that any changes to authority of the UM System Board of Curators must preserve the historic context of MU and lawful academic freedom. The motion was passed with a unanimous vote to make the resolution public and send it to the Academic Affairs Committee.
Former Board of Curators Chairman John Lichtenegger was a guest at the meeting and asked the Faculty Council to carefully read the bill and think about a course of action. The main argument the council had against the bill was the power of the curators being limited.
Lichtenegger said with the power of the universities being taken away, the bill was taking away academic freedom.
"We don't want restrictions on our buildings and research," Lichtenegger said. "We know we have to respect the restrictions of the state constitution and the law, but further restrictions are infringing upon academic freedom."
After Lichtenegger left the meeting, the council motioned to discuss the bill and the course of action.
"As a council, we have an obligation to state our position," Council Chairman Rex Campbell said.
Because the Senate bill is being revised often, the council decided to keep in close contact with Chancellor Brady Deaton to stay updated with the latest version of the bill.
Although the bill includes proposals dealing with tuition fees and transfer credits, the council decided not to act on those until a later time.
"Our best strategy is to keep a low profile and focus on what should be preserved within the university," Schmidt said.
Academic Affairs Committee Chairman Bill Lamberson presented core learning objectives for MU and said there is no good way to measure whether a graduate with a bachelor's degree is capable of meeting certain objectives.
"The general education requirements that students have to meet do not necessarily align with their ability to meet the core learning objectives," council member Steve Neal said.
The learning objectives were not clearly stated, but the council said once a measurable system is found, the objectives would be discussed more in-depth.
The meeting concluded with talks of a textbook rental system.
The idea is being discussed because of the increasing price of textbooks at University Bookstore. Council members debated whether a rental system would be the best system primarily because students would no longer be able to write in books, and the bookstore would only make a small profit per book.
At the same time, the books would be cheaper for students.
No such rental system is yet in place, but students are able to sell back certain textbooks at the end of the semester.