Editorial:

Board of Curators deny student voice

Students cruelly had representation dangled before them.

Published May 8, 2009

There are few larger steps Missouri could take toward strengthening MU's student voice than allowing a student to join the UM system Board of Curators. After the Missouri Senate voted 32-2 last year to allow for a student curator on the board, things seemed to be falling into place for such an action.

But a veto from former Gov. Matt Blunt killed last year's bill and an amendment to allow a student curator that went before the Senate in March was defeated by a 22-9 vote.

The bill failed largely due to lobbying efforts on the part of the Board of Curators, who worked actively to keep a student off the board. They even released a statement speaking out against the idea of a student curator in May 2008.

"A voting student on the Board of Curators would create a biased constituent seat on an otherwise lay board," the document stated.

The term "bias" implies students already have an equal say in the decisions that shape the education of 30,000 students and that another student representative would tip the scales in favor of students on the board. In reality, all students asked for was a single representative out of the nine curators to voice their opinion, but the curators made sure to put a stop to that.

What's worse is knowing that students were so close to having a representative specifically for their interests and still weren't able to have their voice heard.