Morehead Regents Vote to Oppose UPike
This from The Morehead News:Morehead State University’s Board of Regents unanimously voted Friday (Feb. 17) to adopt a resolution for the Kentucky General Assembly to reject House Bill 260 during the 2012 regular session.
The 11-member board voted during a special called meeting held at the Adron Doran University Center.
“After reviewing House Bill 260, we (MSU) already have very limited resources and have had cuts to the budget time-after-time and the Governor has proposed more cuts, which is about $6.5 million,” said John Merchant, Regents chair.
“We (the Regents) just feel this isn’t the right time to add another public university.”
“This is a big step that our Regents have taken,” said President Wayne D. Andrews. “House Bill 260 would simply take a shrinking pie and divide it further. I am proud of our board, after careful study of the matter and then their decision to oppose it.” ...
Stumbo seeks spending records for Morehead State officials
This from the Herald-Leader:The sponsor of a bill to make the University of Pikeville a public school has requested spending records for the president and all members of the Board of Regents of Morehead State University, who vigorously oppose the measure.
A Feb. 17 request under the Open Records Act from House Speaker Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg, asks for all records from the past five years showing expenses incurred by Morehead President Wayne Andrews, his staff and all 11 regents paid by the university.
The request asks for expenses related to travel, vacations, conventions, recreation, motor vehicles, country clubs or other memberships and any other items of value.
The debate has created a split between Stumbo and one of his chief lieutenants, House Floor Leader Rocky Adkins, D-Sandy Hook, a Morehead alumnus
In addition, the request asks for documents related to the "improvement of the educational opportunities" in the 12-county region of southeastern Kentucky that UPike would serve instead of Morehead.
Stumbo wrote the letter on Friday, the same day that the Morehead Board of Regents voted on a resolution to oppose the plan to make UPike public because of limited resources statewide for higher education. Morehead officials have said that a public UPike — financed with coal severance tax dollars — could hurt Morehead's enrollment and program offerings.
In response, Stumbo issued a statement Friday calling the regents "small and petty."...
He should know.
The report I'm most interested in is the one showing UPike's financial situation. If the school is in trouble, Morehead and every other state university has every right to be concerned.
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