STUDENTS INVADE SEMO CAMPUS

Dorian Havens brought almost everything from home but the kitchen sink.

The Southeast Missouri State University freshman from Carthage brought two carloads of belongings to her seventh-floor room in the Towers East residence hall Tuesday.

Havens was helped by members of her family and students from a Southeast fraternity.

Going up hills was tough on the long drive from home. "My car wouldn't go above 50 miles per hour because it was so heavy," said Havens.

Her vehicle was so packed there was barely room for her to get into the driver's seat.

"I had to slide in my car," she said as she stood by some of her belongings stacked on the curb in front of the Towers high-rise residence halls.

Havens brought lots of clothes. "I don't have to do laundry until December because I have so many clothes," she proudly pointed out.

She also brought along her Star Wars cups, her high school notebooks, a TV-VCR, a video game player and a stereo. She even brought magazines that she hasn't had time to read yet.

She spent several hours moving in Tuesday morning. By late morning her room was crammed full of her clothes, boxes and trash bags full of her belongings, as well as those of her roommate.

Havens said she cleaned out her home except for her alarm clock. She accidentally left it behind.

She bought a rust-colored carpet at a Cape Girardeau store. She said there wasn't room to fit a carpet into her car.

Havens was among about 60 freshmen who moved into the dorms Tuesday, school officials said.

Fraternity and sorority students began moving in Monday.

The bulk of new students are expected to begin arriving on campus today. Returning students are expected back on campus beginning Friday.

The 10 campus residence halls are expected to be full when classes begin Monday.

"We have a very high occupancy this year," said Jim Settle, interim director of residence life. The percentage of rooms leased is in the high 90s, he said.

Settle said 2,143 housing contracts have been signed.

For the first time in years all four wings of Dearmont residence hall will be filled with students.

Individual student rooms in Dearmont aren't air conditioned, but the student lounges in the building have just been air conditioned.

"That is an improvement for students," said Settle.

"Admissions has done a great job of recruiting a lot of new students to campus," he said.

Last year Southeast opened with 1,809 students living on campus.

The increase in housing contracts suggests overall enrollment will be up this fall. But school officials said they won't speculate in advance of Monday's first day of classes.

Settle said there are enough rooms to accommodate all the students who want to live on campus. "I don't expect we will put any students up in motels or anything like that."

New and returning students will find a campus still under construction. Work continues on $12.2 million worth of renovations to the central area of the Towers complex and the nearby Greek housing for fraternities and sororities.

"We are working around it a little bit," said Settle.

Loren Rullman, director of student auxiliary services, said the construction work should be completed by October on three of the Greek Housing buildings and the Towers complex.

Two other buildings in the Greek Housing complex are scheduled to be completed by January.

About 200 students will be living in the Towers complex this fall while renovation proceeds on the two Greek Housing buildings.

"That kind of put a squeeze on us this year," said Rullman.

Workmen continue to put the finishing touches on the other three fraternity and sorority buildings. Air conditioning has been installed in the buildings, but the university is still fine tuning it.

"We don't quite have control of the air conditioning yet," he said.

The dining center at the Towers complex has been expanded, but the new furniture has yet to be installed.

Work also continues on construction of offices, meeting rooms and a computer lab.

The lab, with 45 computers, should be completed by early September. Meeting rooms and other offices should be open by early October, Rullman said.

Southeast plans to wait until next summer to do the exterior landscaping.