INAUGURATION IS TODAY AT 2

Dr. Dale Nitzschke will be inaugurated today as Southeast Missouri State University's 16th president. The inauguration ceremony begins at 2 p.m. at the Show Me Center.

The 59-year-old Nitzschke has served as Southeast's president since last July.

The featured speaker will be poet Maya Angelou, who will receive an honorary degree from the school.

Gov. Mel Carnahan will be among dignitaries delivering brief remarks at the ceremony.

Inauguration activities today also include a debate between liberal George McGovern and conservative William F. Buckley.

The debate is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. at Academic Hall Auditorium. C-SPAN is scheduled to tape the debate for later broadcast.

McGovern was the 1972 Democratic presidential nominee. He made another unsuccessful try for the White House in 1984.

The former U.S. senator was one of the first in Congress to openly oppose the Vietnam War.

Buckley is a nationally known columnist and political commentator. He founded the conservative journal National Review in 1955. He began hosting his weekly television show, "Firing Line," in 1966.

Both the debate and the inauguration ceremony are free and open to the public.

Tickets for the inauguration ceremony have been distributed to some 3,100 people, but thousands more may attend, school officials said.