SOUTHEAST REGENTS TO CONSIDER NEW STUDENT CENTER PROJECT

Student leaders at Southeast Missouri State University want the Board of Regents to renovate and expand Parker Hall for use as a student center, an idea first proposed four years ago.

The Board of Regents tabled the plan in April 1998, saying it wasn't sold on the $12.5 million project.

Regent Doyle Privett says he expects the board to consider the proposal. "We are definitely going to talk about it again," he said Saturday.

Privett said regents didn't push ahead with the project four years ago partly because there were a number of other building projects already in the works and students were divided over the proposal.

Regents also questioned what use would be made of the University Center if it ceased to be used as a student union.

The proposed student union would be near the center of the campus and more convenient to most of the residence halls than the University Center, student leaders say.

The University Center opened in 1975 on the south end of the campus. Student leaders say the location of the University Center is too far removed from most students and is already so heavily used for university meetings and banquets that it is difficult for student groups to find space to meet.

Sparked by the efforts of Student Government, a university committee has resurrected the Parker Commons proposal. The committee began meeting in January and merged in mid-February with a university committee studying student housing needs.

Loren Rullman, director of student auxiliary services, chairs the joint committee. Rullman said the committee is reviewing a student center plan that was developed with the aid of a consultant in 1997.

The nearly 30-member committee of students, faculty, staff and administrators is trying to determine if the four-year-old plan to renovate and expand the 40-year-old Parker Hall still would meet campus needs.

Rullman said two things have to happen for the project to proceed. "Students have to want it because they need to pay for and, second, we have to justify it academically."

Rullman said the university needs more academic space. The project could free up the University Center for office and program space for Southeast's College of Health and Human Services.

Southeast would have to issue bonds to fund the project. The bonds would be retired with money from student fees.

An increase in student fees would be needed, but the exact amount hasn't been determined, Rullman said.

The Board of Regents traditionally considers fee increases for the next school year each March. But Privett said the March 26 meeting has been canceled because of uncertainty over just how much money the university will receive in state funding for the 2002 fiscal year which begins July 1. Privett said a new meeting date hasn't been set.

The university administration in 1998 proposed a $5-per-credit-hour increase in the general student fee to be phased in over five years to fund the Parker Commons project. The initial fee hike would have been 50 cents per credit hour.

Students divided

Students were divided over the student union proposal four years ago. The Capaha Arrow student newspaper editorialized against it. "A new UC is not going to be a magic wand, sprinkling spirit and bringing the campus together as a community," the newspaper warned in its editorial.

Now three years later, Student Government leaders are once again pushing the project. "I think this is something students need," said Luke Dalton, Student Government president.

Dalton said a university commons needs to be accessible to students, have a dining area and adequate parking.

As for the University Center, it gets varying amounts of student use. "Some days there are a lot of people here. Some days it is a happening place and other days it is just a blah," Dalton said.

Commuter student Thomas Haupt of Cape Girardeau believes students would support the project "if the price is right." Students wouldn't support it if there were a huge fee increase, he said.

Haupt said the proposed center should include a climbing wall, mini bowling alley or other amenities that would provide activities for students.

It should be more than just a place to sit, he said. "You can go home and sit on couches."

Student and Parker Commons committee member Paul Dobbins supports the project. Dobbins is the son of university President Ken Dobbins.

"Because of increasing enrollments and the continuing demand for expanded residence hall space, a new student center is needed now more that ever to bring our community together," he wrote in an opinion piece in last week's Capaha Arrow.

Dobbins urged students to attend campus meetings next week to discuss the proposal. Three meetings are scheduled, including two in campus residence halls at 10 p.m. today and Tuesday and an open forum for commuter students at noon on Wednesday in the University Center Party Room.