Officials table push for UM, Northwest merger

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- School officials have abandoned efforts to gain legislative approval this year to merge Northwest Missouri State University into the University of Missouri system.

With the legislative session ending May 16, chances were dimming that lawmakers would pass bills allowing the Maryville school to become a fifth University of Missouri campus next fall.

"We have come to the conclusion that with only three weeks left in the session, there simply isn't time for the General Assembly to address this issue," Joe Moore, a spokesman for the University of Missouri system, said Thursday.

"Lawmakers are dealing with a large budget crisis and working on (other) legislation that has been out there since January," he said.

Both institutions' governing boards voted earlier this month to pursue the merger, which officials say would promote efficiency in human resources, budgeting and other operations.

Discussions will now continue toward the goal of having a merger plan ready to present to the legislature next January.

"I think all along we recognized the limitations of starting a pretty major legislative undertaking this late," said Tom Vansaghi, a spokesman for Northwest Missouri State.

"We want to make sure the Legislature has time to look at this and consider it instead of rushing it through and not be successful," he said.

The merger would be the first major campus addition to the University of Missouri system since 1963, when it merged with the University of Kansas City and created a St. Louis campus. Founded in Columbia as a land-grant institution in 1839, the university also has a campus in Rolla.

The university system has slightly more than 60,000 students. Northwest Missouri State has about 6,500 students, with off-campus sites in St. Joseph, North Kansas City, Chillicothe, Trenton and Kirksville.

State Rep. Brad Lager, a Maryville Republican and 1997 Northwest graduate, said he learned of the schools' decision after speaking Thursday with University of Missouri President Elson Floyd and Northwest President Dean Hubbard.

"What we're hearing in the halls and from colleagues is positive, but at the same time there are a lot of questions that have to be answered," Lager said. "To move something of this magnitude in the time frame we have would have been difficult, if not impossible."

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On the Net:

Northwest Missouri State University: http://www.nwmissouri.edu

University of Missouri System: http://www.system.missouri.edu

Missouri Legislature: http://www.moga.state.mo.us