STUDENT LEADER DISPLEASED WITH TOWERS NORTH DECISION

The head of Student Government at Southeast Missouri State University is unhappy over the university scrapping plans to close Towers North residence hall in the middle of the school year.

Jeff Davis, Student Government president, said Wednesday that all students living on campus should have had a say over the Towers move, not just those living in Towers North.

Davis said he favors a campus referendum on the issue because "essentially every student on campus is going to be paying for those students to live in North next semester."

The administration had hoped to close the high-rise dormitory by Jan. 10 to allow for an early start on renovation of the building. The students would have been moved to empty rooms in other residence halls. School officials had said the move would have resulted in some cost savings.

But school officials also said the move would not be made if Towers North students opposed it. Last week Towers North students rejected the plan.

Art Wallhausen, assistant to the president at Southeast, said Wednesday the administration has not backed down from its promise to Towers North students.

"I think the only way that the decision could be reversed is if the people of Towers North changed their minds," he said.

As it now stands, Towers North will be shut down at the end of the spring semester. Renovation of the structure will take about a year. An early start to the renovation work would have allowed the job to be completed by next August, university officials had said.

Without the cost savings, students living on campus will be paying about $150 more next school year, on top of any other increase in room charges, according to university officials.

The decision not to close Towers North at the end of this semester hits all campus residents in the pocketbook, Davis said. He said the university should have informed all residence-hall students about the situation, not just the approximately 350 students living in Towers North.

Davis said students may try to organize a grassroots campaign to put the issue to a vote of the students in all the residence halls. But even so, there's little that can be done if the administration isn't agreeable to reconsider the matter, he said.

Escalating housing charges, however, will only lead more students to move off campus, Davis said.

He said it's not the university administration but the Towers North students who have put a financial burden on all students living on campus.

As to any referendum, Davis said: "The goal is not to make those people homeless; it is to save the university money and, in turn, save students money."