LICHTENEGGER IS RE-ELECTED PRESIDENT OF MIZZOU BOARD

Jackson attorney John Lichtenegger has been re-elected to a second, one-year term as president of the University of Missouri Board of Curators.

The action came at a two-day meeting of the board, which ended Friday in Columbia.

Lichtenegger said the curators amended the bylaws, adopted in 1967, to allow a president or vice president of the board to serve consecutive terms.

"I am honored and excited," Lichtenegger said Friday night. "They went to some trouble to do it."

Lichtenegger has served on the board since 1985, when he was first appointed to fill an unexpired term. He was named to a full, six-year term in 1988. The term ends Jan. 1, 1995.

At Friday's session, University of Missouri President George Russell predicted "all hell will break loose" in March when he announces which academic programs will be cut or reduced to pay for other items.

In a statement to the curators, Russell promised that long-awaited changes won't "be a rehash of what's gone on before, but in the long run (will be) a program we can be proud of."

Lichtenegger said whenever programs are cut, there are those who will decry such moves.

"We will be setting priorities in January to determine which of our programs need additional resources. In March, we are going to identify some programs that may be reduced or eliminated," he said.

Curators have already made some reallocation moves. On Friday, the curators voted to eliminate 35 degree programs systemwide, including eight on the Columbia campus.

They also approved a faculty workload policy with a goal for tenure and tenure-track faculty to teach nine credit hours per semester, including individual instruction.

Russell said that this year the university used $25.7 million from reallocations and increased funds for priorities such as higher wages.

Management has been tightened, cutting administrative costs 25 percent, he said. The ratio of workers to managers has risen from 5.8 to 10.3, a 77 percent increase.

Lichtenegger said the 35 degree programs being eliminated are ones where there are few students enrolled. Arrangements will be made for students in those programs to complete their degrees, he pointed out.

"As far as I know, no jobs were eliminated as a result of this," the Jackson attorney said.

Earlier this year, however, about 1,300 people or 10 percent of the workforce of the four-campus system were let go, half by early retirement and the other half through terminations.

Lichtenegger called the personnel cuts "the largest restructuring" of any university in the nation.

The board has hired new administrators in recent years to run the University of Missouri system. "In the last year and a half, we have hired all four of the chancellors of our system and a new university president. We have put in place a very strong leadership team during this period," he said.

"Actually the change that has taken place in the last year and a half has been dramatic. It has been swift, and yet thoughtful, and it is continuing," Lichtenegger said.

Some information for this story was provided by The Associated Press.