Plus, a major source of ire for lawmakers — an assistant professor whose confrontation with a student videographer during November’s protests went viral — was fired last week.
During an interview Thursday, Senate Appropriations Committee chairman Sen. Kurt Schaefer stopped short of endorsing efforts to restore roughly $7.6 million in budget cuts for system administration, meaning the leadership in charge of overseeing the four campuses. But he’s pushing for a review of the system’s administrative structure and diversity programs, which lawmakers have described as lacking, before lawmakers take any further action.
“I do believe it’s getting better,” Senate President Pro Tem Ron Richard, a Joplin Republican, said Thursday.
Richard and House Speaker Todd Richardson, R-Poplar Bluff, both said greater communication from University of Missouri leaders is helping to mend the relationship. And support from legislative leaders and budget heads could save the system from funding cuts at a time when the Columbia campus already has financial issues.
University officials say the flagship Columbia campus could see at least a $20 million loss due to a potential enrollment drop that likely stems in part from the protests over what some saw as administrators’ indifference to racial issues.
After the system’s interim President, Mike Middleton, campus chancellors and dozens of others vied for lawmaker support at the Capitol on Wednesday, he called for additional proposed spending cuts “unnecessary” because he said lawmakers have made their concerns clear.
