Swan- Three Rivers, Southeast dispute won't be in speech

A member of Missouri's Coordinating Board for Higher Education who will deliver the commencement address at Three Rivers Community College on May 13 says her speech won't mention the dispute between Three Rivers and Southeast Missouri State University.

The speaker, Cape Girardeau businesswoman Kathy Swan, said Tuesday that Three Rivers asked her to deliver the commencement address early this year before the dispute with Southeast surfaced.

"My speech has nothing to do with it," she said.

The coordinating board is expected in June to discuss the bitter dispute between the schools over the operation of three Bootheel education centers.

About 375 students, a record number of graduates for the community college, are expected to receive two-year associate degrees and one-year certificates at the ceremony on the Poplar Bluff campus.

The commencement ceremony is to start at 7 p.m. in the Bess Student Activity Center.

Swan is the sister-in-law of Three Rivers board of trustees member John Stanard.

She said Stanard offered her some advice on the speech: "Keep it short."

Swan said the shortest commencement speech at Three Rivers was seven minutes. She said she might have an even shorter one.

"I am going to try to get to the point," said Swan. She said she plans to center her remarks on a country music song, "In My Daughter's Eyes."

Swan and her husband, Reg, operate a telecommunications company in Cape Girardeau.