'Student curator' bill passes committee

By Jewels Phraner

Published Feb. 22, 2008

The Missouri Senate Education Committee passed a bill on Wednesday that would give the student representative a voting seat on the UM system Board of Curators if Missouri loses a U.S. congressional district after the 2010 census.

The bill is scheduled for discussion before the full Senate on Monday.

At a hearing this past week, Sen. Chuck Graham, D-Columbia, board Student Representative Tony Luetkemeyer and Allie Walker, a legislative intern for the Associated Students of the University of Missouri, stood before the Education Committee and promoted the bill.

Graham pointed out the difference between this attempt and previous unsuccessful attempts.

“We retooled this bill,” he said at the hearing.

The bill solves two problems, Graham said. It would give the student curator a vote, which Graham said is fairly common in other states. It also solves a problem that would arise if Missouri loses its ninth congressional district.

“There would be a fight like you wouldn’t believe among the eight congressional districts to be able to have two curators instead of one curator,” Graham said.

The Missouri Constitution requires the Board of Curators to have nine voting members, and the Missouri Revised Statutes require no more than one representative from each district.

An additional problem that some senators, including Sen. Yvonne Wilson, D-Kansas City, had with past versions of the bill was that it allowed the student curator to vote on personnel issues, such as the hiring and firing of faculty and staff.

The bill that passed out of the committee Wednesday specifies the student curator would be exempted from faculty and staff issues, but would have a vote on any UM system president decisions.

Wilson said her concerns were alleviated with the new language.

“I am for the bill as it is right now,” Wilson said in a phone interview after the hearing.

In his testimony at the hearing, Luetkemeyer said he wanted to go on record in support of the bill.

He said giving the student curator a vote was the “equitable” thing to do and the bill would ensure the student voice is always heard. He said the bill would give a “valuable and needed perspective to the Board of Curators.”

No one spoke in opposition of the bill at the hearing.

“In the 15 years that I’ve been here, I’ve voted for the student curator to get a vote,” Sen. Norma Champion, R-Springfield, said.

In her testimony to the committee, Walker said 90 percent of students on all four campuses supported giving the ‘student curator’ a voting position and it would ensure that the student voice was reflected accurately.

Graham’s Chief of Staff Ted Farnen said Graham was optimistic about the result of the bill.

“These young men and women are leaving (their campuses) with tens of thousands of dollars of debt,” Graham said at the hearing. “The board makes those decisions. They don’t have any voice in the rules that are made that govern them.”