Reform at Mizzou is overdue, but it isn't enough

Mizzou is not just out of step with good educational and management practices; it is also out of step with the state that pays its bills. Mizzou’s bastion of liberalism is funded by the same taxpayers who, in 2010, voted against Obamacare by a nearly three-to-one margin, and while taxpayers have been patient with the school, it appears that patience has run out. In a poll of Missourians released in the middle of this month, a near-majority of respondents would now recommend that their children not attend Mizzou.

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The question today is not just what the University must do to reestablish its educational bona fides. The more pressing question is what the legislature will do about Mizzou’s problems when the chambers reconvene in 2016.

Part of the problem here is that as higher ed priorities go, Missouri has found itself putting its high-profile education eggs into one basket. The state of Kansas has, for all intents and purposes, two flagship institutions in its university portfolio, the University of Kansas and Kansas State University. In contrast, Missouri — which has over twice the population of Kansas — only has the University of Missouri-Columbia serving as its national face. As recent events seem to indicate, taxpayers may be throwing good money after bad at Mizzou… and may be better served by throwing some of that good money to other institutions.

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