Spring Break
Political jousting and false na'veté made all sides look ridiculous at the University of Missouri (UM) Board of Curators meeting Friday, Oct. 5 in Columbia. After an excruciatingly boring first 90 minutes, the curators let it all hang out in the last half hour, while dancing around the crucial issue of what the board's role is in the UM System.
In light of the anti-education General Assembly in Jefferson City and ensuing University of Missouri System Board of Curators-mandated budget cuts, "entrepreneurial" has been the buzzword du jour at UMKC. If it don't make dollars, it don't make sense. Last week, UMKC took a detour from the business model, opting instead for a solid commitment to making higher education affordable and accessible to as many students as possible.
As a UMKC debate Alumnus, I have been watching the events of the past few weeks very closely. In the process, I have become very disappointed in the attitudes of both the Student Government Association (SGA) and some members of UMKC's administration. I know the University News will report the technical aspects of the SGA's actions, as well as some of their justifications, but I think the entire student body should understand some larger context, because in my opinion these events say a lot about the way universities can sometimes work against the goals and needs of students.
Do you think the UMKC campus is racially segregated? "It's a pretty easygoing campus. The only thing you notice is the concentration of ethnic groups, but I don't see any separation. But it's not like walking across Troost." Noah Boydston Junior Mechanical Engineering "Coming from a predominantly white high school, I think this is as cultural as it gets.
