MOHELA plan affects rising costs

To the editor:

The student paper at Southeast Missouri State University, the Capaha Arrow, recently quoted Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder as saying that Attorney General Jay Nixon should "stop standing in the schoolhouse door."

What, exactly, did Nixon do to provoke this vile comparison to the tactics of Orval Faubus and George Wallace? Nixon opposes the MOHELA sale. Reasonable people may disagree about the wisdom or even the legality of the MOHELA sale, but insinuating that opposition to the sale is akin opposing desegregation is beneath contempt. I would like to believe that Mr. Kinder is a far better man than that. He owes Mr. Nixon, and the people of Missouri, an apology.

Kinder is also quoted as "calling upon Republicans, Democrats and independents to stand up and fight for education." Spare me, please. The cost to students of higher education in Missouri is going up because the legislature has failed to appropriate adequate funds. If the Republican-controlled legislature were to appropriate adequate funding, Mr. Kinder, then lowering MOHELA's interest rate, instead of selling its assets, would help make higher education more accessible.

HAMNER HILL, Cape Girardeau