KIRKSVILLE, MO --
An ongoing legal dispute between Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster and Premium Standard Farms cost five Truman State University students their summer jobs.
Attorney General Chris Koster's office was going to foot the bill for Truman State University students to work as odor investigators this summer, but those plans changed.
Five agricultural-science students were going to measure the odor from several Premium Standard Farms this summer using scientific equipment
That's until the Truman president took the university out of the equation after hearing concerns from citizen groups, lawmakers and PSF representatives.
He says the work wasn't in the best interest of the students for fears of getting caught up in a legal dispute between the Attorney General’s Office and PSF.
“There was no direct political pressure applied to me or to the university. I think that there were some representatives who were concerned about this, concerned about whether or not it was in the best interest of the university to be involved in this, but there was no direct political pressure,” said Truman President Troy Paino.
Koster's office offered a grant up to $20,000 to fund the project and pay the students.
Truman didn't receive the money and the students were offered other summer jobs at the university.
PSF gets more time to comply
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