A new law that prevents public universities from denying jobs to state legislators because they lack a graduate degree makes legislators look bad for a couple of reasons.

First, the law is unnecessary. Public universities already do hire professionals to teach courses regardless of the degrees they have. Almost anybody can be hired to be an adjunct professor. That includes legislators.

This is also a bad law because it appears to give an advantage to the legislators who passed it. Why not pass a law preventing public universities from denying jobs to accountants or salesmen or even journalists who lack graduate degrees?

State Sen. Jason Crowell, R-Cape Girardeau, hopes the legislature will repeal the amendment during the 2008 session.