Curator position to rep. student voice

By Allie Blood

Published April 29, 2008

A bill that would create a voting “student curator” position took the next step in the legislative process in a Missouri House hearing on April 21.

Ally Walker, an Associated Students of the University of Missouri legislative intern, has been working since January to promote the bill. ASUM is a student group that lobbies on behalf of UM system students.

Walker said an ASUM poll found 90 percent of UM students were in favor of giving the student curator a vote.

“The student curator has an advantage because he or she knows the system, and can navigate the system better if they’re in it,” Walker said.

Sen. Chuck Graham, D-Columbia, presented the bill, saying 25 percent of all public universities have a voting student curator. Graham said students have the right to vote for president and are eligible to serve in armed forces, but are not allowed to give input to issues that directly affect them, such as tuition increases. He compared this situation to taxation without representation.

“We should allow them the dignity of voting,” Graham said.

According to the Missouri Constitution, the Board of Curators must have nine members, but the Missouri Revised Statutes requires that only one curator come from each congressional district. The bill states if Missouri loses a district in the 2012 census, a student would hold the last seat. Graham said the bill is not only useful to students, but would alleviate any tension over which district gets a second voting curator. In the past, the board has strongly opposed this effort, and members of the board have not expressed opposition to the bill this year.

“It is important to note that the board has not taken an official position on this bill,” Graham said.

Graham’s Chief of Staff Ted Farnen said the committee is scheduled to vote on the bill soon, possibly this week.

“At this point, if it did not pass (through committee), its prospects are really dim,” Farnen said. “This is its best chance.”

In response to questions from chairman Gayle Kingery, R-Poplar Bluff, Graham said the term limit for the student representative to the curators is two years, while the term for other curators is six years.

“The student curator jumps through a lot of hoops that curators don’t have to,” Graham said.

Testifying in favor of the bill, Board of Curators student representative Tony Luetkemeyer said the other curators listen to his advice, but he sometimes feels left out of the process.

Luetkemeyer said that during the selection of a UM system president, he didn’t have a chance to meet one-on-one with the candidates like other curators.

Walker said she found the hearing really important because it gave ASUM and other students the chance to make their case to a captive audience.

“It’s an opportunity to give them statistics,” Walker said. “It’s time for them to stop and listen.”