A former chairman of the Kansas Board of Regents says $2 million earmarked for a stem cell center at KU Medical Center could have been used to offset some of the Legislature’s $66 million in cuts to higher education.

Regent Ed McKetchnie of Arcadia says stem cell research is good, but maybe now isn’t the time to spend money on a new center while the state is making large spending cuts everywhere else.

The Lawrence Journal-World reports university officials didn’t request funding for the Midwest Stem Cell Therapy Center at the medical center but got it anyway.

Regents Vice Chairman Fred Logan says he disagrees with McKetchnie on the stem cell center, where researchers will work on adult stem cell, cord blood and related stem cell research.

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Information from: Lawrence Journal-World, http://www.ljworld.com