Curators look to solve composition conundrum

The board opposes adding a student member to fill the leftover seat.

By Katie Moritz

Published Dec. 5, 2008

After more than 130 years of the same setup, the UM system Board of Curators might have to change its policy for appointing new members after the results of the 2010 census.

Missouri's slower population growth compared with other states might cause the board to revise policies about where its members can come from.

Steve Knorr, a lobbyist for the UM system, said the relative slowdown — an average of 3.7 percent growth over 10 years as opposed to a national average of 5.3 percent — might cause the state to lose a congressional district.

That poses a problem, Knorr said.

With not enough congressional districts to fill the nine seats of the board, there have been ideas that a student, graduate or faculty member from a UM system school might fill the leftover seat. Student groups have shown support for the student representative on the board to receive voting rights, a measure that has been shot down in the General Assembly and this year vetoed by Gov. Matt Blunt.

Knorr said giving a vote to the student board member wouldn't work.

"If we chose a student, alumni would say 'Hey, why didn't we get the seat,' and if we chose an alumni, faculty would say they wanted it and so on," Knorr said.

The Board of Curators, the governing body of the UM system, was established in 1875 by an article in the Missouri Constitution that stated the board would consist of nine members appointed by the governor.

"A state statute passed in 1939 described what the board should look like," Knorr said. "That's where it said of the nine members, not more than one should be appointed out of the same congressional district."

If the board must have nine members, it will be impossible to have only one representative from each of the eight congressional districts.

"According to the state statute of 1939, you're going to be going against the constitution," Knorr said. "The state statute has to be fixed for this to work so we can have more than one member from a congressional district."

At the time, there were 16 congressional districts in Missouri, leaving seven districts without representation on the board. Over time, the number of congressional districts shrank. Missouri has had nine districts since 1980.

As of now, there is no solution for the ninth seat conundrum. At the Dec. 11 board meeting, members will discuss possible options.

Knorr said despite having to change a state law, there is not a feeling of urgency surrounding the issue. He said Missouri still holds nine congressional districts and will continue to do so until the 2010 census.