'Student curator' vote denied
June 6, 2007
The student representative to the UM system Board of Curators will continue to sit as a non-voting member after a bill sponsored by Sen. Chuck Graham, D-Columbia, was defeated for the second-straight year.
There are nine voting members on the board and one student representative.
Graham has sponsored a bill to give the student representative a vote two years in a row.
"I know that Senator Graham still supports the idea," Graham's Chief of Staff Ted Farnen said.
Farnen said it was likely Graham will continue to raise the issue in the future, but Graham could not be reached for comment.
Student groups including the Associated Students of the University of Missouri have been strong supporters of the bill the past two years.
"We gained some momentum on the bill this year," ASUM Legislative Director Craig Stevenson said. "The bill itself passed for the first time from the Senate Education Committee, which is a big accomplishment."
ASUM, along with some other student organizations including the Missouri Students Association, has campaigned for a student vote on the Board of Curators for some time.
"We've been working with a bipartisan group of senators and representatives Stevenson said. "We want to work with Democrats and Republicans in moving this issue forward."
He said ASUM would build upon the campaigning they have done this year.
Critics of the plan, including former UM system President Elson Floyd, have said if students get a vote, faculty and staff might push for a vote on the board as well.
The Board of Curators consists of one member from each of the nine congressional districts in Missouri and one student representative from one of the four campuses, which is rotated every two years. The next student representative will be from the MU campus.
The Missouri constitution is set up so that a 10th voting curator cannot be added. Suggestions for implementation of the plan have included adding a student representative but taking away the vote of the chairman or taking away a curator and having a student represent one of the districts.
"This is an issue I feel that all students should be a part of who are politically active," Stevenson said. "Participating and helping with this movement, trying to get a student curator vote, is a way to advance (student participation)."
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