Dear Editor:
It's a dog owner's dilemma. Your pet destroys something. You see the situation and become furious. Here some owners lure the pet close enough to grab it and beat it severely. Certainly a few well-placed swats. It feels good. Animal trainers tell us this is poor behavior modification.
Such a scenario now exists between our esteemed Legislature and Missouri University. State Sen. Schaeffer and Rep. Lichtenegger head our lynch mob. What is their justification? The representative says some of her constituents demand a flogging and a specific lynching.
Polling of citizens concerning recent events at Mizzou indicate confusion and anger by more than half the public. Those events were minority protests, forced changes in leadership and actions of the Mizzou football team and coaches.
One lady professor has become the poster child of this confusion by losing control of her emotions and good sense. She forcibly placed herself between the police and press during the fall demonstrations. She is the Legislature's designated first victim for beheading.
Yet to be removed Rep. Lichtenegger retaliates by removing $2.5 million from MU's budget. This was money earmarked to keep tuition low. The representative sought praise for not flogging the school more. A mark of legislative leadership is now running ahead of the mob and calling for more muscle.
The four-campus system budget is almost $3 billion. The current state contribution was to be about $425 million. All parties still call this our flagship university system. This meager 15 percent contribution is the average state contribution today for most public universities. University administrators spend as much time raising money as do federal politicians.
State legislatures are minority stockholders of state universities if the largest. For their small but useful contribution they want to call the shots.
Since last fall the Missouri Legislature has wanted to intervene in Mizzou sports programs, withhold appointing new administrators or curators plus reviewing the syllabus of all classes. Helpfully, they have added at taxpayer expense yearly audits of the system.
Former Capitol newsman Bob Priddy recently wrote about these matters calling it "A Mell of A Hess." Are the adults anywhere in this matter?
These issues did not happen overnight. Solutions will not be instant. Less grandstanding and more thoughtful questions and analysis would be helpful. Could the Legislature actually be constructive and not destructive or petty concerning Missouri's lead educational system? Unfortunately, the beatings may continue until morale improves.
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