ASUM victorious with student vote

The student representative would get a vote if Missouri loses a congressional district in 2010.

By Allie Blood

Published June 4, 2008

After a 12-year-long battle to give a vote to the student representative to the UM system’s governing body, the Missouri House passed the legislation to do just that on May 16.

Now the bill awaits Governor Matt Blunt’s signature or veto.

The Missouri constitution states there must be nine members on the board, and no one congressional district may have more than one voting member. There are nine congressional districts in Missouri, so each has a voting curator.

Additionally, there is a student representative to the board, who does not have the privilege of voting.

In 2010, the census will most likely cause Missouri to lose a congressional seat.

In response to the problem of who the ninth voting curator would be, Sen. Chuck Graham, D-Columbia, proposed legislation that would give the ninth vote to the student representative.

“Sen. Graham and Rep. Brian Pratt(R-Blue Springs) both worked diligently to make this bill pass, and without their hard work we couldn’t have attained this success,” said Ally Walker, newly elected Associated Students of the University of Missouri legislative director.

Historically, the bill has passed the House and died in the Senate. But this year, the bill passed out of the Senate Education Committee on a 4-3 vote in April.

Student representative to the board Tony Luetkemeyer said he felt the legislation passed both chambers this year due to a combination of ASUM’s lobbying efforts, that the legislation applies only to the UM system and not all state schools, a change from similar past efforts, and that this bill is contingent on Missouri’s losing a congressional district.

“Giving the student curator a vote ensures the student curator will always be listened to,” he said.

He said though he has good working relations with the rest of the board, the legislation forces future system officials and future curators to take the student representative more seriously.

While the bill was making its way through the House, the curators passed a resolution outlining reasons not to pass the bill.

Some reasons included student inexperience in leadership roles and that the objectivity of the board would be compromised by a student’s point of view.

Luetkemeyer could not attend the meeting, held via teleconference, because of a scheduling conflict with his final exams.

Graham’s spokesman, Ted Farnen, said the curator’s decision to wait until “the eleventh hour” to make their objections was confusing and frustrating.

“We don’t feel some of the points brought up (by the curator’s resolution) were relevant,” Farnen said.

The passage of the bill was a victory for ASUM, who hopes this bill will bridge the gap between administration and students in the coming years.

“ASUM’s success at the Capitol is a success for all UM system students in ensuring that student voice is being heard, and student needs are being met,” Walker said.

Jonathan Mays, Missouri Students Association Senate Speaker, said the effort of MSA and ASUM has hopefully had a positive effect on the legislative process.

“Who knows whether Saturday meetings and constituent calls and visits to the Capitol actually swayed any state representatives, but with only ten votes saving the bill from a dead-end amendment, I think it was worth the effort,” Mays said.