An OMNIBUS bill has been introduced at the Missouri legislature, in an effort to restore funding to buildings cut out of the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority loan sell-off.
The buildings cut, including Benton-Stadler Hall at UM-St. Louis, are buildings that could possibly house stem cell research in the future.
The proposed sale of the MOHELA loans, which is endorsed by Gov. Matt Blunt, would provide $350 million for building projects to all the state universities and community colleges.
UM-St. Louis Chancellor Tom George said the funds are desperately needed to renovate Benton-Stadler Hall, which houses the University's science department.
"The situation is, it's probably our oldest academic building on campus," George said. "It needs electrical work and other renovations."
George said the issues in Benton-Stadler have gotten so severe, it is to the point that UM-St. Louis is having trouble competing for science students.
"A number of high school teaching labs are getting better," George said. "And they are better than ours."
George said part of the problem is the issue has become partisan, with more Republicans supporting reinstating the funding than Democrats.
"Some people opposed to the sale are against it because they don't want to see any restrictions at all," George said.
The legal wrangling dealing with the sale of the loan has impeded the progress of other building projects at the other state universities as well. At UM-Columbia, a life sciences building had to be scrapped due to pressure from Missouri pro-life groups.
The building will now house a cancer treatment center and medical teaching facility. Blunt has gone on record saying the life sciences building would have had a more beneficial impact on Missouri's economy.
Missouri Right to Life President Pam Fichter has said the group opposes any plan that would provide funding to buildings that fund "life destroying research."
Despite the outside pressures, George is confident the funding will get passed.
"Obviously, I'm partial [to the sale of the loans] because I want the money to renovate Benton-Stadler," George said. "I am optimistic and ever hopeful about funding for Benton-Stadler."
The OMNIBUS bill will go before the State House and Senate later in the year, and could be on the governor's desk by the end of the school year.
Opponents of stem cell research were pleased by legislative language excluding buildings that could house embryonic stem cell research from receiving the money. Fichter has said in the past that Missouri Right to Life will continue to fight to keep public institutions from performing the research.
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