ALTHAUS SELECTED AS NEW CHAIRMAN OF FACULTY SENATE

Southeast Missouri State University budget concerns, the search for a new provost and sexual orientation are issues that will likely come before the Faculty Senate in the 1992-93 academic year.

That's the prediction of Rick Althaus of the political science department. He was selected Wednesday as the new Faculty Senate chairman. He replaces Allen Gathman of the biology department, whose one-year term ended Wednesday.

"I think the budget will continue to be a concern," Althaus said Thursday. "It really is every year, and perhaps it has been exacerbated this year by the double whammy of desegregation costs and the budget cuts in Jefferson City."

Althaus said the senate's concerns with budget cuts and salaries are "an outgrowth of continued frustration over economic uncertainties."

He said, "Budget concern is always going to be there because it's the essence of where the university is placing its value."

He said the search for a new provost will be an issue of particular interest to the Faculty Senate and faculty in general. Provost Leslie Cochran is leaving this summer to take a position as president of Youngstown State University in Ohio.

"Though we all wish Dr. Cochran well, the time of selecting a replacement is also an appropriate time for the university to examine its direction in priorities," said Althaus.

"And I would not be surprised to see the affirmative action statement issue returned to the senate," said Althaus.

A divided senate earlier this year rejected a proposal to include homosexual rights in the university's non-discrimination policy. But the vote was close, with a number of senators strongly in favor of the measure.

Althaus said he recognizes that as Faculty Senate chairman he will be considered by the news media and many in the community as a faculty spokesman.

But he said it's not always easy to represent the faculty as a whole. "The problem is that the strength of a university is the diversity of its faculty, and faculty are not always in agreement on what to do. I will try to represent the various faculty positions as best I can."

Althaus has been a member of the university faculty since August 1980.