When Gov. Matt Blunt first proposed selling assets from Missouri’s student-loan authority to finance campus construction, life-sciences and biotechnology projects were high on his agenda. But when the legislature eventually approved the plan, those ambitions were largely replaced with agricultural-research projects, many of which include new meeting rooms at university farms, the Associated Press reports.

Life-sciences projects, including a proposed $150-million Health Sciences Research Center at the University of Missouri at Columbia, were removed from the legislation in February by senators who feared that the buildings might house future stem-cell research. To keep the plan alive, supporters of Governor Blunt, a Republican, looked for other projects to fill the void, and university agriculture officials responded with $50-million wish list that involved new buildings in a number of legislative districts.

The new plan has other projects, too, including a $30-million science and mathematics building at Missouri Western State University, the news service reported. But as reconfigured, the plan is not expected to have as large an economic impact as the governor’s original proposal. —Charles Huckabee