COORDINATING BOARD BACKS CORE COURSES

The Missouri Coordinating Board for Higher Education Friday reaffirmed its commitment to a core high school curriculum for admission to the state's public colleges and universities.

Some university presidents questioned the authority of the board to dictate such admission policies.

But board member Robert Yeckel of St. Louis said the board is not dictating admission requirements to individual institutions, but instead making "minimum recommendations."

"We are not going to at this particular point tread on local institutions," he said. "We are talking about trying to get students into higher education that are prepared and ready to go."

The board action came at a meeting of the coordinating board, held Friday morning at the Show Me Center on the Southeast Missouri State University campus. This marked the first meeting of the coordinating board in Cape Girardeau since June 1986, Southeast officials said.

Six of eight board members attended the meeting. Chairman Mickey Brown of Springfield was unable to attend because of a family illness.

Vice Chairman David Haggard of Kennett chaired the meeting in Brown's absence. Also in attendance were board members Jerrilynn Voss of Linn, David Macoubrie of Chillicothe, L.M. Magruder of Nevada, Jack Thomas Jr. of St. Louis, and Yeckel.

About 35 people, including a number of officials at Southeast, attended the meeting.

The board last December adopted a model, 16-unit core high school curriculum as a prerequisite for general admission to Missouri's public four-year colleges and universities. The plan calls for such standards to take effect by fall 1996.

Presidents of some of the state's public colleges and universities have said that admission exceptions must be allowed.

The coordinating board's staff had recommended allowing exceptions totalling 20 percent in 1996, 15 percent by 1998 and 10 percent by 2000.

But board members Friday decided against including such exceptions in the policy at this time. They approved a motion, however, limiting the policy to all first-time, full-time degree-seeking students and transfer students who have completed 24 hours or less of college credit.

University presidents at the meeting argued that non-traditional students should not be required to meet the new core curriculum policy.

Julio Leon, president of Missouri Southern State College in Joplin, questioned the authority of the coordinating board to set admission standards.

He said the Council on Public Higher Education, a group comprising presidents of Missouri's public colleges and universities, had been working to develop core curriculum standards.

Leon said his college supports the core curriculum concept, but plans to make exceptions to the board's policy. "We understand our students. We understand our area. We will make exceptions."

But Macoubrie said, "I think we are pretty narrow-minded when we start worrying about our turf."

Leon said the coordinating board and the colleges and universities need to work together in setting admission standards.

Haggard said, "I think we are all basically on the same wave length."

He said the issue should not become a "turf battle." He said the board's goal is to have a state policy on admissions.

Kala Stroup, president of Southeast, told the board: "We only want to accept people that do college-level work."

She said the university wants to stress core curriculum requirements for admission. "But there are times when you have to make exceptions."

Wendell Rayburn, president of Lincoln University in Jefferson City, said, "We do feel we know best about the students which we serve."

He pointed out Lincoln has an open-admissions policy. Non-traditional students, who are typically older students, make up a large percentage of the student body.

Rayburn stressed the importance of an open-admissions policy. "We believe that the task of higher education is not to seek those who are successful, but to make successful those who come."

Yeckel said it's wrong for institutions to consider higher enrollment at all costs.

Charles McClain, state commissioner of higher education, maintained that the core curriculum policy is important for improving education in Missouri. "I think it is one of those items that if we take the long view and high road, we will all be winners."