Editorial: Pass 'student curator' bill now

May 6, 2008

For 12 years, the UM system’s students have struggled for a voice and a vote for the student representative to the system’s governing board.

Now that we’ve finally convinced the Missouri House Higher Education committee and Senate to agree, we aren’t about to let an amendment proposed this late in the legislative game negate all effort that has been dedicated to the cause. Revisions can be made in the next legislative session — but right now, we’re asking legislators to pass the bill as is.

For months, the Associated Students of the University of Missouri have been lobbying to pass a bill to give the student curator a vote in 2012 and therefore force the Board of Curators to make the student opinion a concrete factor in decision-making. Recently a concern that the bill will be amended on the House floor with the addition of a “sunset clause” and consequently returned to Senate has surfaced. If the amendment passes and the bill has to go back to Senate, there will not be sufficient time before the end of this legislative session, and the bill will die as a result.

The Missouri Constitution states the Board of Curators must have nine members, one from each Congressional District, and the Missouri Revised Statutes requires only one curator come from each congressional district. The voting student curator bill states that if Missouri loses a congressional district in the 2010 census, a student will hold the last seat when the districts are revised in 2012.

We insist a current student can provide much greater insight into the needs of students in the UM system than another proposed alternative, an out-of-state graduate who is far removed from university life and the needs of Missouri students. The bill must be passed right now, before the 2010 census and while the Senate and the Higher House Education committee are already in favor.

For 12 years students have pressed legislators to pass the bill, and year after year efforts have failed. This year, though, is different. The bill passed through Senate on April 3 and the Missouri House Higher Education committee on May 1, and all that’s left is a successful House vote and the governor’s signature, assuming the bill is not amended. In the past, similar bills have been passed by the House only to die in the Senate. But this year, the student curator stars have aligned.

The terms of the amendment aren’t unreasonable. The change to the bill would be the addition of a sunset clause, or expiration date, for the voting student curator bill. Although we’d rather be assured a permanent vote for the student curator, it’s a compromise we’re willing to make to ensure we obtain the voting privilege.

But we have to ask why the sunset clause proposal is happening so late in the process, especially when members of ASUM brought up the possibility of such a clause much earlier in the legislative session when there would have been time to amend the bill and still let it pass. Whether it’s a deliberate attempt to keep the bill from passing or simply a result of laziness or incompetence toward proposing amendments in a timely manner, the timing is unreasonable and simply unacceptable.

We are asking legislators to postpone revisions until the next legislative session, after the bill has already passed through the House. Amending it now and therefore killing the bill would waste the time, energy and efforts of students and legislators who have worked hard to get the bill to where it is.

We as students have done all we can to earn a say in decisions made concerning our education, and we’re almost there. What we need is your help as legislators to ensure that the bill passes in this legislative term.

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