ST. LOUIS (AP) – University of Missouri curators voted Tuesday to consider leaving the troubled Big 12 for another conference.

The governing board’s members agreed unanimously after a 4-hour closed meeting at the system’s St. Louis campus to give Missouri chancellor Brady Deaton authority to look elsewhere.

Speculation has centered on a possible Missouri move to the Southeastern Conference, which recently agreed to accept Texas A&M from the Big 12 starting next year The Big 12 has also lost Nebraska and Colorado to other major conferences.

Missouri has been a Big 12 member since the conference began 15 years ago and was a charter member of the Big Eight, the Big 12’s predecessor.