Latest resignation leaves University of Missouri system with no African-American curators

The second University of Missouri System curator in less than a week has resigned from the governing board for the four-campus system.

The university system announced on Monday that David Steward, the chairman and founder of World Wide Technology in St. Louis, has resigned from the Board of Curators effective immediately.

Steward was appointed to the board in 2011 by Gov. Jay Nixon, and his term was set to expire in January 2017.

Steward was the only remaining African-American on the board, after Yvonne Sparks resigned last week just two months after her appointment.

A statement from the university said Steward, who represents the 2nd Congressional District on the board, was resigning to concentrate on expanding his business.

“It has been a great honor to serve the four campuses of the University of Missouri System in the role of curator, and I am deeply grateful for the opportunity,” Steward said in the statement. “However, we have been blessed with substantial opportunities to continue to expand our business globally. This ultimately will create more jobs for the state of Missouri, and I am choosing to make that my primary focus.”

Sparks’ resignation came the same day that a scathing letter written by former system President Tim Wolfe was made public. In the letter, Wolfe criticized the curators and former University of Missouri chancellor, R. Bowen Loftin, who was reassigned in November the day that Wolfe resigned in the midst of student protests over racial intolerance and inequity on the Columbia campus.

Sparks, an assistant vice president for the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, said she was leaving the board to pay more attention to her job. She said her resignation had nothing to do with the turmoil at the university or Wolfe’s letter in which he made it clear that he wanted curators to pay him more money as part of his separation from the university.

She came on the board to succeed Wayne Goode, whose term expired Jan. 1. Nixon had originally appointed Mary Nelson, general counsel and chief legal officer for the St. Louis Community College District, but she was not confirmed by the Senate.

In November, Ann Covington resigned from the Board of Curators, citing the recent death of her husband, her own hip replacement surgery and an ill grandchild. Covington, a Columbia resident, was appointed to the board in 2013.

The Board of Curators, made up of nine voting members and a student curator, has been reduced to six members. Curators serve six-year terms.

Nixon may appoint a replacement to fill the remaining portion of Steward’s term. In a statement Monday afternoon, Nixon said that, “As the chairman and founder of one of America’s largest and most well-respected companies, David Steward has brought a unique and valuable perspective to the Board of Curators over the past five years. I thank him for his distinguished service and look forward to appointing another strong and dedicated leader to represent the Second District on the Board.”

This story was originally published February 1, 2016 at 11:30 AM with the headline "Latest resignation leaves University of Missouri system with no African-American curators."