Academics vs. athletics

Southeast Missouri State University's money crunch has created a new competition on campus.

Academics is battling with athletics in a cost-cutting tug of war.

"There are folks around here, and maybe the board of regents, who think this is an athletics club," said Dr. Alan Journet, a biology professor. He and some others believe university officials appear to be protecting sports during the budget crisis.

But supporters of the school's Division I athletics program say sports garners priceless publicity for Southeast and ultimately help get students to enroll here. They also generate major donations to the university and draw minority students, they say.

The university currently is trying to make up a $1.45 million budget shortfall prompted by state budget cuts. School officials are drawing up a cost-cutting plan that is expected to be voted on by the regents next week.

Some faculty argue that the university's priorities are all wrong when school officials are looking at cutting $1 million out of academic programs and $450,000 out of nonacademic programs.

Athletics alone might lose only $35,000 to $40,000, school officials said. That doesn't sit well with faculty when the university may eliminate degree programs.

"Students enroll in Southeast for its academic programs, not its sports teams," said Dr. David Cameron, an assistant professor of history.

LaQuita Andrews disagrees.

A senior from Nashville, Tenn., Andrews is on the women's track team at Southeast. A minority student and an accounting major, Andrews said she wouldn't have enrolled at the Cape Girardeau school if it weren't for a track scholarship.

"I am here because I wanted to run," she said. "I could go anywhere and take up business."

Southeast's student-athletes account for 11 percent of the university's total minority enrollment, athletics director Don Kaverman said. A total of 9,570 students are enrolled at Southeast this fall. Only 824 are minority students.

Southeast can't compete for students without a solid athletics program, said Dr. Ed Leoni, a health and recreation professor. "It's a marketing game in higher education," he said. "Without a doubt, when schools are in the news nationally or statewide, 90 percent of the time it is due to sports."

Some faculty have suggested that to save money, the school should drop down to the NCAA Division II level, where it would have to field fewer teams. It went to Division I in 1991.

But school officials and athletics boosters say that would be shortsighted because it would cut into enrollment, and it would be a four- or five-year process to get the NCAA to approve a change in division status.

The university finances more than 60 percent of its annual athletics cost with $3.8 million. The other $2.2 million comes from ticket sales, fund-raising efforts and payments from the NCAA.

Many of the schools that Southeast competes against in the Ohio Valley Conference subsidize 80 percent of the cost of their sports teams, Kaverman said.

Southeast's athletics budget pays for 16 sports -- nine for women and seven for men. NCAA rules require Division I schools to sponsor a minimum of 14 sports. Southeast annually has from 350 to 375 student athletes.

Southeast ranks 114th out of 123 Division I-AA football programs in the nation in operating expenses. Men's basketball ranks 118th out of 124 programs, and women's basketball ranks 119th out of 122 college programs nationwide, Kaverman said.

U.S. Department of Education figures show Southeast spent $1,159 per athlete in football in fiscal 2002. By contrast, Murray State University spent $2,810 and Southern Illinois University $2,165 per football player in operating expenses.

In men's basketball, Southeast spent $5,789 per player compared to $9,354 for Murray and $12,102 for SIU.

Southeast spent $3,544 per player on the women's basketball team. Murray State spent $5,396 per player, and SIU's operating expenses amounted to $12,303 per player, Kaverman said, citing figures reported by the Southern Illinoisan newspaper in Carbondale.

Kaverman said the university wants to win games, but also focuses on educating students.

Southeast's athletes graduate at a better rate than the student body as a whole, he said. Fifty-nine percent of the school's athletes graduate within six years compared to only 50 percent of the general student body, he said.

But some students who aren't playing on a school team still have the feeling they're losing.

"I see athletics put in the front seat and me in the back seat," said Tony Bertram, an English major from St. Peters, Mo.

mbliss@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 123