University of Missouri leadership responds to column series on UM pension

Staff Reports
·2 min read

In a three-part column series to the Tribune titled "UM employee pensions: When a promise isn’t an obligation," University of Missouri professor emeritus Art Jago detailed perceived issues with the university's pension plan.

Jago's columns were titled "Curators name themselves sole pension fund trustees," "Pension trust fund benefits not guaranteed" and "Mysterious 'ironclad' and 'rock-solid' guarantees in state statutes."

In response to the three-part series, University of Missouri president Mun Choi and vice president for Human Resources at the University of Missouri Marsha Fischer co-authored the following response to the Tribune:

"The Board of Curators and University of Missouri administrators have been and continue to be committed to the sound fiscal management of the university’s pension plan. This has been demonstrated by making the full actuarial-determined contributions to the plan each year, consistently fulfilling financial obligations to all pensioners, and regularly reviewing the reliability of actuarial assumptions and policies that govern the plan. We take our fiduciary responsibility very seriously and will never waiver from that commitment.

Additionally, the UM Retiree Associations at Missouri S&T, UMKC, UMSL and MU released a joint statement declaring that they take seriously their commitments to advancing and protecting the interests of all UM retirees and dependents. This includes review and discussion of retiree benefits through regularly scheduled and on-going consultation with UM Leadership. The four associations affirm and acknowledge the sound fiduciary management of the Retirement, Disability and Death Benefit Plan to date.

It also is important to note that the 12th Annual Chief Investment Officer Industry Innovation Awards for 2022 were recently announced, and University of Missouri System Treasurer and Chief Investment Officer Tom Richards was declared the top administrator among those who oversee public defined benefit retirement plans with assets less than $12 billion. It is a testament to the strength of the university’s pension plan that national organizations are recognizing that we have one of the best investment officers in the nation overseeing our plan."

Read Jago's series below:

Part I:

More:Curators name themselves sole pension fund trustees

Part II:

More:Pension trust fund benefits not guaranteed

Part III:

More:Mysterious 'ironclad' and 'rock-solid' guarantees in state statutes

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: University of Missouri leadership responds to columns on UM pension