Curators, student leaders meet
Gov. Jay Nixon will appoint four new curators in 2011.
Published Dec. 10, 2010
Student leaders met with the UM system Board of Curators during the board's December meeting at UM-St. Louis on Thursday.
At a roundtable discussion, student leaders from each of the four UM system campuses addressed the board and university administrators and chancellors.
Missouri Students Association President Tim Noce said the meeting was a good conversation and an opportunity to present student voices to the curators.
During the discussion, students and curators discussed changes in student fees, tuition and the student voice.
MSA President-Elect Eric Woods said the discussion centered on the ability of administrations to levee infrastructure fees on students to pay for new academic buildings.
Fees to pay for such buildings now could set a precedent to create similar fees in the future, Woods said, which many students do not agree with.
In addition, students and curators discussed the possibility of breaking the tuition freeze.
"Obviously, students don’t want tuition to go up," Noce said. "That being said, you don't want the quality of your education to suffer."
Woods said a tuition increase is likely to happen soon, and is something the board has to consider in the coming year.
He said the curators took the financial implications of a tuition increase seriously, but the state budget threatens to break the tuition freeze.
Overall, Noce said the roundtable discussion was an important way for student leaders to convey student’s voices to the board. Both Noce and Woods said they hoped another roundtable discussion could happen at future board meetings.
"The students are in the front lines of the schools every single day," Noce said.
Curators met for committee meetings throughout Thursday, and discussed tuition, fees and an update on the retirement plan project.
Friday, the board will move to approve action items including the renaming of the UM-Kansas City Henry Bloch School of Business and Public Administration and the purchase of Intuitive Surgical da Vinci Si HD Surgical System for the University Missouri Health Care system.
Five outgoing members of the board will be acknowledged during Friday’s meetings. Curators David Wasinger, Doug Russell, John Carnahan and Secretary of the Board Kathleen Miller’s terms will expire at the end of the year. Curator Bo Fraser will retire.
To end Friday’s meetings, the board will elect new chair and vice chairpersons for 2011. Gov. Jay Nixon will appoint four new curators to the board to replace the leaving members.