KU may get money it didn’t ask for, but not what it wanted

TOPEKA What the University of Kansas wants, it may not get.

But what it may get, it didnt request.

Even as lawmakers rail against spending more on higher education and prove reluctant to fund some of KUs requests, theres some university spending they like.

KU has struggled throughout the legislative session to win support for $10 million recommended by Republican Gov. Sam Brownback for a new building to train doctors at its medical school in Kansas City, Kan.

At the same time, however, lawmakers eagerly embraced the governors proposal to fund a new adult stem cell research center for the university an initiative backed by Kansans for Life and Sen. Mary Pilcher Cook, a leading abortion opponent.

Supporters testifying on its behalf included David Prentice, senior fellow for life sciences at the Family Research Council, a Christian group that opposes abortion.

KU administrators asked for the building, not for the stem cell money.

The Legislatures decision-making speaks to the way politics especially the volatile politics of abortion and related issues such as fetal stem cell research can seep into decisions over spending at the states flagship university.

KU administrators asked for the building, saying the new medical education center would allow it to train new doctors to replace the baby-boomer physicians who will be retiring in the years ahead by adding 25 new medical students a year.

But the university did not ask for the adult stem cell research center, which the governor wants to pay for with taxes earmarked for the Kansas Bioscience Authority.

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KU may get money it didn’t ask for, but not what it wanted