JEFFERSON CITY —State Sen. Tony Luetkemeyer, R-Parkville, appeared before the Senate Education Committee to renew a decade-old call for a student curator with voting rights on the University of Missouri Board of Curators. Senate Bill 265 creates a voting student curator position, replacing the current non-voting student representative on the nine-member board, which governs the four-campus university system.
“The General Assembly passed similar legislation overwhelmingly in 2008, but that measure was vetoed by the governor,” Sen. Luetkemeyer said. “Since that time, student tuition fees have increased to a level where they now account for more than 50 percent of the University of Missouri’s revenue. The time is long overdue for the Board of Curators to recognize the stake students have in the university and provide a student curator an equal seat at the table.”
Senator Luetkemeyer served as the student representative to the Board of Curators from 2007-2008, while attending the University of Missouri School of Law. During the Education Committee hearing Tuesday, Feb. 26, he recalled appearing in the same hearing room 11 years earlier as a student to testify in support of a previous bill to create a student curator position.
Upon passage of SB 265, the University of Missouri’s first voting student curator could be seated as early as January 2020 and would serve a two-year term, provided the student remains a full-time student within the university system.
For more information about Sen. Luetkemeyer, visit www.senate.mo.gov/luetkemeyer.