Three Rivers board questions mediation efforts

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- Trustees from Three Rivers Community College sought answers Tuesday from the state official who has been mediating a dispute over the operation of higher education centers between the college and Southeast Missouri State University.

Dr. Gregory Fitch, commissioner of the Coordinating Board for Higher Education, met with the administration and board of trustees of the community college Tuesday evening. It was the board's first meeting with Fitch since February, when Southeast announced it was severing ties with Three Rivers and planning to take over operations of higher education centers at Kennett, Malden and Sikeston.

Southeast had cited budgetary reasons for the move, which would take effect this summer.

The Three Rivers board of trustees remained in an executive session late Tuesday. The nearly two-hour long open discussion prior to the executive session touched on many of the key elements in the dispute.

Fitch assured the board he had no knowledge of the university's intentions to sever its ties to Three Rivers before Southeast's president Dr. Ken Dobbins announced it on Feb. 25.

Trustee Bill Swafford asked if the college could establish its own higher education centers in the Kennett, Malden and Sikeston area.

"I think what you'd be confronted with is, in the first place with the budget shortfall we have in the state, is how are you going to do that," Fitch said.

The issue of having nearly identical courses being taught by each institution at separate locations in those areas would also pose a problem. When asked if the college could hold courses at other locations, such as area high schools and community centers, Fitch told the board and administration that it would be their prerogative to offer courses. Degree programs must meet approval from the Coordinating Board for Higher Education.

After sorting out the board's initial questions of accountability, trustee Stephen Cookson questioned the proposed agreement the Southeast board of regents unanimously approved earlier this month. Three Rivers had taken no action on the proposed agreement, which was drawn from discussions and input received from both institutions over the course of the dispute, Fitch said. Paul Kidwell, attorney for Three Rivers, has decried the proposal as unacceptable and unfairly biased to favor the university.

"It was sent to both parties and both parties have a right to make adjustments and changes to it," Fitch said.

The plan calls for Southeast and Three Rivers to split equally the cost of operating the education centers in Malden, Sikeston and Kennett. Three Rivers would teach 60 percent of the freshman- and sophomore-level courses at the centers. Southeast would teach the other 40 percent of lower-division courses and all upper-division courses.

The proposed draft was clearly marked as a draft and included personal comments from the commissioner. Still, the board wanted additional assurance that the proposal was just that. Three Rivers' attorney L. Joe Scott said the commissioner's wording in the proposed agreement gives the impression that it was more an order to the college than a proposal.

Fitch encouraged the board to draft its own proposal if the current draft agreement was too far-fetched to be amended.

"My point has always been that we need to settle this," he said. "We really do. Our students are at risk and our communities are at risk." The process of working out an agreement would depend on both institutions providing input and allowing the commissioner to draw aspects from both into any agreements.

"I may not be able to incorporate all of what you want and I may not be able to incorporate to all of what SEMO wants," Fitch said.

If the two battling schools still could not reach a new partnership, the issue would likely go before the Coordinating Board for Higher Education. The appeal would be heard in an open hearing before the board made a final ruling on the issue. If that happens, Fitch warned that if either institution failed to abide by any state laws or board policies, the state board could take certain actions against that school.

Some trustees and administrators expressed a certain amount of doubt that any agreement would be possible after the years-long quibbling and recent battle.

"I don't think I could ever vote to endorse any agreement that was not a long-term agreement," Cookson said. "I don't want to be in here debating this again in one year or two years from now. I get the idea that regardless of it happened as this particular time, it was their intention for us to have to leave those centers and to offer those lower division courses. I'm not going to be in those centers in they're going to have that kind of unilateral power."

Part of the problem in the that initial agreement, Fitch said, was that it just simply wasn't a well-written agreement. The draft proposal the commissioner has presented to the two institutions calls for an exit clause and yearly reviews to ensure that both Southeast and Three Rivers continue to accept the ongoing operations of the centers.

But Judith Scott, vice president for academic advancement, said several issues in the proposal are unacceptable.

One element of the proposal requires that neither institution offer classes within 50 miles of any of the three higher education centers.

The problem? Malden is just 35 miles from Poplar Bluff, and both Kennett and Sikeston are very near being 50 miles away.

"There's just no way we would ever agree to sign an agreement like this," Scott said.

The college also alleges the proposal would require it to pay half of all operating expenses without giving any control over how those funds would be spent. Scott called into question some of the salaries and other related expenditures at the university.