Members of Missouri Southern’s faculty and administration agree that additional time to review Senate Bill 67 (SB67) is a good thing.     

In a campus-wide email sent out April 23, Missouri Southern administration announced that the amendment to Senate Bill 67 that would remove the international mission requirement from a state statute has been removed.

According to the email release Sen. Ron Richard (R – Joplin) worked with members of the House to remove the amendment.

President of the MSSU Board of Governors, Sherry Buchanan in the email said that additional internal communication will be beneficial.

“I am relieved and I appreciate Dr. Buchanan and Sen. Richard stepping forth and revoking the amendment at this point,” said Chad Stebbins, director of the Institute of International Studies.

University President Bruce Speck acknowledged that slowing down the amendment’s process was reassuring to the people he had spoken with on campus.

Speck said the plan is to revisit the issue in the fall and bring forth all the facts with the possibility of having Commissioner of Higher Education David Russell visit the campus to help answer questions.

Stebbins said that he would like to see more discussion with all interested and involved parties. Stebbins had received several phone calls and emails as news of SB67 reached the faculty and community.  

“One alumnus had started an online petition and another had started a Facebook group to support the international mission,” Stebbins said.

However Rep. Bill White (R – Joplin) said from his perspective as a legislator and attorney there shouldn’t be that much concern over what the bill would do.

“Really, this seems to be a larger issue than it needs to be,” White said.

“This doesn’t really have an effect in practical terms with what the administration wants to do with the University.”

Speck said the intention was never to suppress an open discussion but said that he understands that is a hard position to defend given the way the information came down.

“I think that there was a miscommunication in this regard and I take responsibility for that,” Speck said.

Both White and Speck said the bill allows for the university to have more flexibility.

Speck said that having the mission under Consolidated Board of Higher Education (CBHE) instead of tied to a statute allows the university the ability to adjust to changing needs in the unforeseeable future.     

The situation surrounding SB67 has been picked up by the Associated Press with the St. Louis Post Dispatch and the San Francisco Chronicle running article, as well as the Joplin Globe locally.