SEMO MAY SEND PRESIDENT 'PACKING'

Southeast Missouri State University may send its president packing, but only a short distance to a home off campus.

If the Board of Regents agree, the Southeast Missouri University Foundation would buy a brick home at 1626 Whitener to serve as the new home for the school's president.

The house is next to Longview, one of Cape Girardeau's historic homes.

"We have a contingency offer on the home," said Wayne Davenport, vice president of university advancement and the foundation's executive director.

The owner, Dr. Yong Kim has offered to sell the house for less than market price with the difference being counted as a charitable gift to the foundation. No sale price has been disclosed.

The president's current on-campus home, Wildwood, would be turned into an alumni center.

An addition would be built to house alumni services and fund-raising offices, including the office of the Southeast Missouri University Foundation.

Wildwood would be used to entertain alumni and university supporters.

The current alumni center would be converted into athletic offices and the athletic director's office in Houck Field House and other coaching offices would be moved to the center.

The basketball coaches would continue to have their offices at the nearby Show Me Center, Davenport said.

Southeast's Board of Regents is scheduled to discuss the plan at its meeting Friday.

Don Dickerson, board president, said the issue would be discussed behind closed doors because it involves a real estate matter.

The regents have yet to review all the details of the plan, he said.

Davenport said the expansion of Wildwood into a new alumni center would be funded with some $400,000 provided by the late Aleen Wehking for just such a development. "The move for us is cost free," he said.

Wehking, a major financial supporter of the school, died in 1995.

The current alumni center was renamed in Wehking's honor in 1987.

Once a migrant center, the building on Sprigg Street near the Show Me Center doesn't have enough space to host and entertain alumni and financial contributors to the university.

It doesn't provide a welcoming home for alumni, Davenport said.

The executive committees of the university's foundation and National Alumni Council support the plan.

Davenport said the plan has been under serious discussion for about a month.

Even if the regents approve the plan quickly, it likely would still take 15 months before the new alumni center would open.

Except for Dr. Robert Foster's one-year presidency in 1989-1990, Wildwood has housed every Southeast president since Dr. Joseph Serena and his family occupied it in 1924.

But Southeast officials believe Wildwood could be better used as an alumni center.

Dickerson said that is the driving force behind the current plan.

It doesn't hurt, he said, that the alumni council and foundation officials are behind the project.

"When the alumni association and the foundation are interested, the board is always willing to listen."

Said Dickerson, "It looks pretty good."