SEMO: FACULTY BACKS SELECTIVE ADMISSIONS

Southeast Missouri State University's plan to be moderately selective in its admissions will improve the quality of education, the institution's faculty senators say.

The Faculty Senate, which has previously discussed the issue, unanimously endorsed the plan Wednesday.

Faculty Senator Joe Low said the institution is already close to being moderately selective. "It is not that great a leap for the institution," he said.

Since 1987, the university has raised its admission standards.

In 1989, the university began requiring students to have a minimum ACT score of 18 for admission. Last year, the university adopted core curriculum requirements as did other schools in the state.

In 1995, the core curriculum will be strengthened with the requirement that students have had three units of math (algebra and above) in high school rather than the two units now required for admission to Missouri's colleges and universities.

"When you raise admission standards, you do then turn some people away," said Faculty Senator Allen Gathman.

But he maintained that higher admission standards are good because they force high school students to be better prepared for college academically "and it is improving the quality of education we provide to students who are coming in."

In the past two years, Southeast has denied admission to about 700 applicants, including more than 300 last fall.

According to university records, 164 St. Louis area residents were denied admission last fall. Also denied admission were 78 Southeast Missouri residents, 14 from other parts of the state, 24 from Illinois, nine from Kentucky and 19 from other states.

But faculty senators said there are a number of programs and exemptions in place to provide access to students who don't meet the admission standards.

Gathman pointed out that whole groups of people are exempted, including non-traditional students.

Essentially, the admissions standards apply to first-time, full-time students right out of high school.

Rick Althaus, Faculty Senate chairman, said prior to the meeting that Southeast's faculty members have seen better prepared students in their classrooms since the university began raising its admission standards.

Faculty Senator Helen Miner said some faculty members have expressed concern about the fact that there is no local community college where students denied admission at Southeast could enroll.

The closest junior college to the Cape Girardeau area is Shawnee Community College in Ullin, Ill., a 40-minute drive.

"We are making more of a concentrated effort to attract students, not only from Southeast Missouri but Western Kentucky as well," Marti Roberts, public relations coordinator for the community college, said in a telephone interview Wednesday.

The college offers a special out-of-state tuition rate for students in those counties, including Cape Girardeau, Mississippi, New Madrid, Scott, Stoddard, Bollinger and Perry counties in Missouri, she said.

The charge is $46 per semester hour, well below the normal out-of-state fee of $119.

The college has extension centers in Anna, Cairo, Metropolis and West Vienna, Ill., and is now holding a handful of classes in East Cape Girardeau, Ill.

As of the 1992 fiscal year, 46 Missouri students were enrolled in classes at the school, Roberts said.