LICHTENEGGER SERVEDS UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI SYSTEM WELL

Under the leadership of University of Missouri Board of Curators President John Lichtenegger, the university system has undergone a complete administrative restructuring and embarked upon a bold financial recovery plan following the defeat of Proposition B, which would have produced more tax money for higher education.

We find those to be significant accomplishments considering Lichtenegger has headed the board but two short years. The Jackson attorney, who is in his ninth year on the board, is to be commended for his service, particularly that of president, which he relinquishes to Curator James McHugh at the end of the year.

Assembling new leadership for the university certainly was no easy task. The selection process demanded countless hours of the curators' time, and Lichtenegger saw to it that the task of hiring new administrators was carried out in timely fashion and that the transition occurred with ease.

The new team, which was assembled about midway in Lichtenegger's term as president, included university President George Russell and the chancellors of each of the university's four campuses at Columbia, Rolla, Kansas City and St. Louis. Without them, none of the many other changes, including the financial recovery plan, could have occurred, Lichtenegger said. Nevertheless, it was the prudent foresight of Lichtenegger and other members of the board that put what he called a "phenomenal restructuring" of the system into place.

Following the defeat of Proposition B by state voters in November 1991, the board had to make tough decisions. Proposition B would have pumped about $90 million more into the university system. Without that money, and no new money elsewhere, the university found itself in a financial quandary.

So the board adopted a five-year, $125 million plan that included some drastic measures. It cut 1,300 employees from the payroll, or about 10 percent of the university's workforce, through early retirement. No other university in the nation has ever taken such drastic action. The board also hiked tuition about $200 a year above the inflation rate for five years. This means that at the end of the five years students will be paying about one-third of the actual cost of their education.

The added revenue permits the university to pay for various improvements, including better teacher salaries, repairs to facilities, and replacing obsolete laboratory equipment and computers.

In addition, because of its financial responsibility, the University of Missouri was accorded the highest bond rating given to a public university in the nation by Standard and Poor's and Moody's, which will save the university millions of dollars in future interest costs.

Only through open communications could the university administration and board sell the restructuring plans to its students, faculty and staff, whose support was needed if they were to be successfully implemented. But openness and communication have been trademarks of the board under Lichtenegger's leadership. That openness -- a policy that allows everyone within the university community to be heard by curators -- brought about the monumental restructuring that will maintain the University of Missouri system as the top-notch institution it is.

As the new president, McHugh, said, when presenting Lichtenegger with an honorary gavel to adjourn his final meeting this month: "John's dedication to the university has been truly outstanding. He has taken us through some very important and difficult decisions."

Seldom is such outstanding leadership as that of Lichtenegger's demonstrated. The university and university system should be grateful to such a dedicated man.