Hearings held on changing school's name

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- A Jackson resident and former member of the University of Missouri Board of Curators spoke in opposition to a name change for Southwest Missouri State University during a state Senate hearing Tuesday.

John Lichtenegger, a Jackson lawyer, told the Senate's education committee that a bill proposing a name change to Missouri State University is an attempt to elevate Southwest to a special status on par with the state's flagship campus at the University of Missouri-Columbia.

Doing so, he said, would inevitably lead to Southwest demanding a greater share of state higher education funding, which would hurt the remaining regional institutions, including Southeast Missouri State University.

"Our budgets have been reduced for higher education in this state," Lichtenegger said. "Southeast Missouri State and other universities have had to cut programs to live within these budgets. Now is not the time to take a chance. Nothing positive or good can come from this name change except for the faculty at Springfield."

Lichtenegger served on the University of Missouri Board of Curators from 1985 to 1995. The UM system has long opposed Southwest's name-change efforts. This year's bill, which follows a failed legislative proposal from last year, is sponsored by state Sen. Norma Champion, R-Springfield.