The Missouri House Select Committee on Budget voted 20-5 Wednesday in favor of a House bill substitute that would cut University of Missouri System funding by $7.6 million.
The substitute on House Bill 2003, proposed by committee chair Rep. Tom Flanigan, R-Carthage, would cut the funding from system administration.
There was no discussion on the bill.
Five representatives, including Caleb Rowden, R-Columbia, voted against the substitute. Reps. Jeremy LaFaver, D-Kansas City, Randy Dunn, D-Kansas City, Jeanne Kirkton, D-Webster Groves, and Gail McCann Beatty, D-Kansas City, were also opposed.
Three members were absent.
Interim UM System President Mike Middleton urged legislators Wednesday to support the four-campus system. He spoke to a crowd in the Capitol Rotunda as part of an annual UM System Legislative Day event.
Middleton told the crowd the system is trying to be "transparent and fiscally responsible." He implored those gathered to encourage lawmakers not to "punish" the university.
"We're educating tomorrow's leaders," he said at the event.
LaFaver, the Kansas City representative, said in an interview he was concerned about how the cuts would affect the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
"Coming out of the hearing, I was concerned with how those cuts would hit the university in my backyard," he said.
In an interview Wednesday, Rowden said he was disappointed by the committee's vote.
"Given the enrollment issues and the real-world budget issues that the university has - I think it's shortsighted, and just really unnecessary," he said.
MU's enrollment next year could drop as much as 900 students, Interim Chancellor Hank Foley told a House committee in February. The drop could amount to a $20 million budget shortfall, Foley said.
Rep. Kip Kendrick, D-Columbia, is on the committee, but was absent for the vote. In an interview later Wednesday, he called the cuts frustrating.
"My district includes the University of Missouri, but that's not why we should fight for the University of Missouri," he said. "The University of Missouri impacts the entire state. The cuts were a retaliatory action. To me, those are the worst cuts possible. It's unacceptable."
"We'll continue to fight to get the money restored. We'll continue to educate colleagues about the importance of the university and why we need to support it now more than ever."
The bill will advance to the full House for debate.
Despite the committee's vote, there's still time to minimize the cuts, Rowden said.
"I think there's a chance to try and do something on the (House) floor," he said. "We're going to start having those conversations. We have a few days to talk to a lot of people and figure out what their appetite is going to be."
Confusion about the cuts
Flanigan's substitute includes seven line-item appropriations for the university system.
Each of the system's campuses would receive its own appropriation, as would the University of Missouri Extension, the system's administration and a program for endowed professorships.
Previously, state funds have been appropriated as a lump sum.
In a budget hearing on Feb. 24, representatives voiced confusion about how the cuts would affect each campus within the system. At a hearing last week, legislative budget analysts said it's not possible to determine how the cuts will be distributed to each campus.
Committee members voted Tuesday to reject a funding cut to MU of about $400,000.
The cuts would have been equivalent to the salaries of former assistant communication professor Melissa Click, a chair in the Department of Communication and the salary of Michael O'Brien, the dean of the College of Arts and Science.
Also on Tuesday, the committee voted against amendments by Rowden to add $3.8 million in administrative funding to the university system's budget, according to the Associated Press.
The decisions came five days after the UM System Board of Curators voted 4-2 to fire Click, though proposed legislation regarding the university system's finances did not abate after Click's firing.
Click ignited national controversy after asking for "some muscle" to stop a student journalist from filming reactions to the resignation of Tim Wolfe, former president of the University of Missouri System, in November.
The resignation came after weeks of campus protests about racism and racial inequality at MU.
In recent months, Missouri legislators have denounced MU's handling of Click's employment and MU leaders' response to racial protests on campus.
Politicians have proposed bills that would target the university system, including a bill that would restrict teaching waivers, which allow professors to forgo teaching classes to conduct research.