Nixon makes final decisions on MOHELA projects
Three MU projects were approved, but Ellis Fischel is still on hold.
Published Feb. 17, 2009
Construction of a new Ellis Fischel Cancer Center at MU remains suspended under Gov. Jay Nixon's final review of 31 state construction projects.
Nixon is releasing funds for 18 higher education construction projects backed by the sale of Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority assets, but Ellis Fischel and 11 other projects are indefinitely on hold.
Out of a total of 12 projects awarded to MU, three will receive funding: the Hundley-Whaley Farm Research Center in Albany, the Plant Science Building in Mexico, Mo., and a new plant sciences research center at MU's South Farms property in Columbia.
The remaining $118 million in the Lewis and Clark Discovery Initiative Fund will go toward the 18 selected projects.
Because the fund is short $100 million, the other projects will remain on hold until either MOHELA makes additional payments or additional funding sources can be identified, Nixon spokesman Scott Holste said.
Chancellor Brady Deaton said he would try to find other ways to fund the Fischel center, the only hospital in the state devoted solely to the research and treatment of cancer. One option is pulling money from the more than $1 billion raised through the For All We Call Mizzou campaign.
Rep. Mary Still, D-Columbia, suggested applying federal stimulus funds to the Fischel project, but Holste said he could not say whether this would be an option.
"We are certainly considering a number of options," Holste said.
