The meeting took place in the President's office on quiet day at the university after students were released for winter break.
“Nobody cares who the President of the University is. If something happens with the Football Coach, the Basketball coach, everyone comes out of the woodwork,” Wasinger said. “I’m very familiar with higher ed.”
Tatum, who taught sports management before moving into academic administration and now leads the university with one of the most decorated football programs in NCAA DII history, concurred.
“We’d love to have you come [to a football game],” Tatum said, “It’s one of the best Division II environments I’ve been in. People come from all over.”
Despite the casual agenda, Wasinger and Tatum eventually turned to university business, including the aspiration to build a Center for Rural Health education, which could be a nearly $100 million project. Tatum said the University is eyeing funds from last summer’s GOP reconciliation bill, which included a $50 billion investment in rural health care across the country, to support the investment.
“We have spoken to Senator Schmitt and Senator Hawley about bringing this concept to them. They’ve shown interest in it, so we hope to partner with the state, the feds, and our corporate group, so we don’t have to put the entire [cost] burden on Missouri,” Tatum said.
The Center for Rural Health would “address the critical shortage of healthcare professionals in Missouri’s rural communities,” according to a flyer outlining the initiative. It would offer degree programs in nursing, physical and occupational therapy, radiology tech, social work, and related professions. The University currently offers a pre-nursing program, but has no full degree.
Wasinger emphasized his support for higher education, citing his time on the Board of Curators for the University of Missouri System.
Discussion turned to the upcoming legislative session. Wasinger, who oversees the senate as part of his duties, said he expects contention. The state budget is projected to decline, leading to increased competition for resources and Wasinger said he wants to “change senate rules” to “make it a functioning body.” He has also discussed ending the filibuster, which is not directly in his power but could be done through influencing legislators.
He said the special session last September, when lawmakers re-drew congressional maps at the behest of President Trump and changed the state’s citizen petition process to weaken the public’s ability to pass constitutional amendments, has left lawmakers with a bad taste.
“When they passed the redistricting, one senator who had served for 20 years said this was more protestors than [when lawmakers rolled back] abortion [access] – more protestors than anything.”
One day mid-way through the session, “things went off the rails and so I had to clear the gallery,” he recalled, “and as I'm walking out of the chamber one of my staffers says: 'You need to be careful; Charlie Kirk just got shot!’”
“[The staffer] showed me the video and I was thinking 'this is last thing I need to see right now.’ Things got pretty spicy,” Wasinger said.
Despite the differences between the “extremes” in both parties, Wasinger said “we’ve got a budget to pass, so the Democrats will want something, and the Republicans will want something, and we'll end up working through it."
