THE STANDARD VOLUME 111, ISSUE 26 | THE-STANDARD.ORG The Standard/The Standard Sports
TUESDAY, APRIL 10, 2018
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Missouri House budget proposal restores funding for higher ed HANNA SUMPTER Senior Reporter @hannasumpter Missouri State University and other public universities across the state could see state funding restored after Missouri House of Representatives passed a new budget last month. The Missouri House passed a $28 billion state budget on March 29 for the 2019 fiscal year that restored the $68 million Gov. Eric Greitens cut from higher education in his
budget proposal released Jan. 22. “I think that if we were going to do another (cut) we should also require our state departments to cut to a similar level from their budgets,” Missouri Rep. Scott Fitzpatrick Courtesy of Missouri said. “We haven’t done State University that, so we wanted to figure out a way to treat the institutions fairly.”
Of the $68 million restoration, MSU would receive about $6.5 million back in state funding. The rest of the funding Greitens cut from MSU, about $2.5 million, will still be withheld from this state budget. “We’re not done yet, but it is a good positive step,” MSU President Clif Smart said. Fitzpatrick, also the budget chairman for the Missouri House, headed budget creation and said the funding cut for higher education was “pretty extreme.” “I didn’t feel that was appropriate,” Fitzpatrick said. “Two years in a row, I think
New health center named The Bill and Lucille Magers Family Health and Wellness Center officially opened Monday
Missouri State University junior and Missouri Valley Conference All-Bench Team honoree Reggie Scurry announced Monday his career as a Bear is officially over. Scurry tweeted: “I appreciate all of the unbelievable support from the fans, coaches and my teammates. I loved every minute being at
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University President Clif Smart, Bryan Magers and Chris Magers, as well as faculty and SGA members cut the ribbon at the Bill and Lucille Magers Family Health and Wellness Center ribbon cutting ceremony on April 9. a legacy building,” Muegge said. “The construction of this facility could not have been accomplished without the continued support of the entire MSU community.” Muegge called the new building the best university health center in the Midwest, citing MSU’s growing student body population and overall image. “Paired with the welcome center, these two buildings say to all prospective students, all employees, all visitors of campus: ‘Welcome. We care,’” Muegge said. MSU students had previously voted to assess themselves a $29 per-semester health fee for future upkeep of the building that began in fall 2017. Student Body Vice President Caitlin Schaefer said this helped establish a connection with MSU’s student body from the project’s earliest stages of development. “Thirty-four-plus patient rooms, nine counseling spaces, three floors, but the
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one thing that’s the most astonishing is that this all started as a student initiative,” u See HEALTH, page 8
Missouri State, but unfortunately, I will not be returning to Missouri State for my last year.” The 6-foot-5 forward averaged 8.9 points per game in 21 appearances for the Bears in 2017-18. He shot 50.3 percent from the field, averaged 4.2 rebounds per game and finished second on the team in blocks with 19. “I appreciate the support u See SCURRY, page 8
Campus Judicial Board rules on election complaint CORTLYNN STARK News Editor @Cortlynn_Stark
The unveiling of the name of the new Bill and Lucille Magers Family Health and Wellness Center.
u See BUDGET, page 2
Reggie Scurry announces he’s leaving the Bears ALEC McCHESNEY Editor in chief @Alec_McChesney
NOAH STANDISH Senior Reporter @NoahjStandish The clouds finally parted and the red ribbon was finally cut on Monday morning, as Missouri State University’s new health and wellness center was formally unveiled. As the Plaster Student Union Bear peeked over a crowd of students, faculty and contractors, MSU President Clif Smart stood at a podium to speak alongside several representatives of a renovation project first discussed in fall 2014. Months of planning, construction and support from students and the Springfield community finally culminated in a reveal of the building’s official title: The Bill and Lucille Magers Family Health and Wellness Center. “I’m pleased to tell you (the building) is named after a couple who have given tremendous service to our country and to Springfield,” Smart said. “This state-of-the-art facility will help keep students healthy, so future generations will give back to their own communities.” Since fall 2016, the health and wellness center had been housed in the first floor of Monroe Apartments, with individual rooms used for patient care. Now, MSU’s staff of full-time nurses, physicians and receptionists will fill a building of roughly 36,000 square feet. The move may have been just across the street, but Director of the Health and Wellness Center F. David Muegge said its significance reaches much further. “This is a unique clinic, which is now
we’ve asked a lot of the institutions this year with the 10 percent reductions that occurred last year. I just didn’t feel it was appropriate to do that again.” A tuition increase cap inserted as a stipulation with the restoration of higher education funding will limit next year’s tuition increase for in-state undergraduate students to 1 percent. This equates to an increase of $2 per credit hour. With the possible funding restoration in consideration, university administrators and
A campaign manager on a ticket for this week’s student body president and vice president election was approved to run the campaign, despite having been on the Elections Commission for Student Government Association. The Standard has received complaints about Ramirez’s role as a campaign manager. Chief Elections Commissioner Sam Siebert said campaign manager Amy Ramirez was approved because of Siebert’s interpretation of the elections code. She manages student body president candidate Isaiah Villarreal and vice president Dillon
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Cordel’s campaign. The Campus Judicial Board ruled on April 4 in favor of Siebert’s interpretation. The discretion came in the Elections Code Article I, Section II, Subsection F, which states: “No members of the Elections Commission will be permitted to run for any post in any sanctioned election during an academic year in which they served on the Elections Commission.” “Originally, when she was approved to be on Isaiah’s campaign she was a member of the commission but she had resigned before the tickets became official or were turned in, in any capacity,” Siebert said. According to the ruling from the Campus Judicial u See ELECTIONS, page 8