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Dennis Murphy

For the students, by the students

True Tiger Questions: President Floyd Answers
Ryan Maris, Corner Post Staff

February 23, 2004 - After all of the talk about Southwest Missouri State's name change, tuition prices and Reynolds's donation, Dr. Elson Floyd, President of the University of Missouri System, sat down with True Tiger members Tuesday night at Reynolds Alumni Center to discuss current issues at MU.

There were many questions about the SMS name change. Floyd said the University of Missouri System never took a side in the case. He offered SMS to join the system of four universities and said their president made it, "abundantly clear," he did not want to join.

Floyd remarked that the General Assembly should pass the relative legislation concerning the Northwest Campus coming into our system. He called this bill a "no brainer" to pass, but because they still might vote against it, he said it's "not a slam dunk."

The tuition question was a very deep one for Floyd. He had tried to keep the tuition the same instead of increasing. He recommended a 3.2 percent increase for the last tuition increase because he hoped the state appropriations would stay the same. Instead, they went down again, and the increase is 20 percent. Floyd thinks a 5-year freeze is a good idea. Tuition would not change from your freshman year until senior year.

With the recent donation from the Reynolds's foundation, some journalism students are concerned about how that will benefit them. Floyd said that investments help sustain the reputation of the Journalism School and that additions help their degree for years after their graduation.

Floyd was asked about the Life Science building and College of Agriculture.

"Agriculture is really important," he said. "There are many world class professors doing great research in the Ag School."

On a question about incoming college students, Floyd said MU has the obligation to make sure high school's in Missouri are preparing students for the rigor of college classes.

In a closing statement for the evening, "I want the University of Missouri to be recognized as one of the premier public Universities in the Nation," Floyd said.

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