POET FAILS TO SHOW UP AT LECTURE

Sunday night's scheduled lecture by poet Nikki Giovanni at Southeast Missouri State University was canceled.

Giovanni, who gave a lecture earlier in the day in St. Louis and reportedly was ill with the flu, told the university's Department of Public Safety sometime earlier in the day that she was upset and would not make the trip to Cape Girardeau.

Debra Mitchell-Braxton, assistant dean of students, did not know immediately whether the cancellation was due to a miscommunication or Giovanni's health.

The lecture, sponsored by the Association of Black Collegians and funded by Student Government, was to have been the culminating event of Black History Month on the campus.