Mo. student leaders meet, discuss goals

They discussed successful programs at their universities.

By Gwen Daniels

Published Feb. 8, 2008

Thirteen Missouri public universities have created a unified voice on higher education issues for state legislators.

Student representatives from the universities met with elected officials in Jefferson City at a conference sponsored by the Missouri Higher Education Consortium to voice their opinions and distribute a brochure that explained their stance.

“There are a lot of higher education issues that we all agree on, and we want to communicate those issues and those concerns to the general assembly,” said Rachel Anderson, former president of the Missouri Students Association.

Orlando Hodges, president of the Missouri State University Student Government Association, spearheaded the conference.

“At Missouri State University, we thought it would be exceedingly important to bring students from all over the great state of Missouri to the same table in the name of higher education,” he said in a news release. “I am simply excited that all the other public institutions felt the same way.”

Anderson said the packets were well received.

“They complemented the fact that we gave background information and kept it short so it was really easy to see our position without going through too much information.”

At the conference, MHEC hopes to show state legislators the universities across the state are united, said Kristen Sanocki, director of political activities for the Missouri State University Student Government Association.

“So much of the perception in Jefferson City is that the universities are fighting,” Sanocki said. “We want to say that’s really not the case. We compete for funding because we all have different needs and interests, but we all have a common ground. We want to make sure we come together and work for everyone.”

MHEC distributed a legislative position booklet to state representatives and senators. The booklet highlights MHEC’s stand on a voting position for student curators, loan forgiveness, textbook transparency, veteran tuition and health care funding.

According to the booklet, the consortium supports granting a vote to the student representative on the university governing board of each university. Currently, the student representative to the UM system Board of Curators can attend meetings of the governing board but cannot vote.

MHEC also supports loan forgiveness programs that promote education in fields including teaching and nursing by reducing or eliminating student debt.

In addition, the group supports textbook transparency laws, which would require publishers to immediately reveal textbook prices to professors. Right now, professors are sometimes asked to buy textbooks before the price is disclosed, Anderson said.

Under textbook transparency laws, “professors would have the ability to shop around more and pick the best book that conveys what they want to teach at a cost reasonable to students,” she added.

The booklet also gives MHEC’s opinion about reduced tuition for veterans.

MHEC fully supports tuition breaks for veterans if the funding is provided fully by the state. In light of drastic budget cuts, the universities cannot afford to foot the bill, Anderson said.

Finally, the consortium supports the “Preparing to Care” initiative that expands health care at all 13 public universities. With the plan, university hospitals could hire additional nurses, pharmacists and physician assistants, Sanocki said.

Student representatives at the conference also had the opportunity to learn from the student leaders of other universities.

Sustain Mizzou, an environmental organization at MU, presented a session on sustainability on campus.

Other universities’ programs were present, too.

Darren Doherty, president of the University of Central Missouri Student Government Association, described UCM’s transition to a partially smoke-free campus. Hodges spoke about student voter turnout and encouraging students to vote with absentee ballots.

Anderson said the conference opened the floodgates on higher education to student leaders from all the public universities.

“We agree more than we’re ever going to disagree,” she said. “It just makes sense to pool our knowledge and resources.”