Higher Ed's top official to review college tiff

Commissioner says that Three Rivers and Southeast can better serve students without duplication of services and additional expense.

Missouri's commissioner of higher education will review the establishment of all nine Bootheel education centers as he seeks to address the lingering dispute between Southeast Missouri State University and Three Rivers Community College.

In a letter to the presidents of both schools, commissioner Gregory Fitch wrote that the review should help the two colleges and the Missouri Coordinating Board for Higher Education clarify education services and establish accountability measures.

Fitch wants the dispute settled.

"My belief is that TRCC and SEMO can -- in partnership -- better serve the region's educational needs without duplication of services and additional expense," he wrote in his Sept. 20 letter.

The commissioner said he won't intervene in the legal battle between the two institutions.

"I do not plan to dwell on past circumstances or the lawsuit; it is out of my hands," Fitch wrote.

"However, the climate surrounding the split and the barrage of allegations tossed about and played out in the media, e-mails to legislators and public posturing have only proven to damage the reputation of higher education in the state and before the nation," he wrote.

The commissioner said he will review the establishment of Three Rivers' six new education centers as well as Southeast's three centers. The review will include center finances, student enrollment and the actions of the governing boards of Three Rivers and Southeast.

According to Fitch, such centers require coordinating board approval.

Southeast president Dr. Ken Dobbins said the coordinating board approved Southeast's three centers years ago.

TRCC didn't seek coordinating board approval when it established its six centers this fall.

But Dr. John Cooper, president of TRCC, said his school didn't need state approval because the coordinating board years ago approved its mission to bring lower-division college courses to the region.

He said Southeast's decision to kick out TRCC and teach all the courses at the university's three centers forced TRCC to set up its own centers.

"We have a tremendous unmet educational need out there," Cooper said. "We are the 15th poorest congressional district in the nation and the poorest in the state of Missouri," he said.

"Clearly, our mission is to go out and try to serve those students," said Cooper.

Both Cooper and Dobbins said they will respond to the specific questions that Fitch raised in the letter.

But both said they would filter their responses through their attorneys because of the court battle.

Fitch was out of town Tuesday and couldn't be reached for further comment.

In his letter, Fitch set no deadline for the presidents to respond to his questions.

Southeast and Three Rivers had a long-standing partnership in which both schools taught classes at Southeast's Bootheel education centers in Kennett, Malden and Sikeston.

But the partnership dissolved after Southeast announced in February that it would take over teaching of all classes at the three centers at the end of the spring semester.

TRCC officials accused Southeast of breaching an agreement in which the community college paid rent to teach classes at the three centers. TRCC sued Southeast in March. The case is still pending.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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