Three Rivers, SEMO quibble over paper

The dispute between Three Rivers Community College and Southeast Missouri State University took an even nastier tone on Thursday.

Three Rivers staff at the Crisp Bootheel Education Center in Malden, Mo., leveled accusations that they were denied necessary supplies for the learning environment by Southeast staff at the centers.

According to Three Rivers, employees at the Malden center working under the auspices of Southeast removed paper from computers in Three Rivers' computer lab, posted signs stating that Three Rivers had stopped supplying paper to the center and denied a request from a Three Rivers instructor for 26 sheets of paper meant for her students.

Art Wallhausen, associate to the president at Southeast, said the allegations come from a temporary glitch in availability of copy paper at the center.

"The university emphatically asserts that there is not now and has never been an intention to inconvenience students or interfere with instruction by denying students paper in the BEC computer lab," Wallhausen wrote in a statement.

The allegations that paper was removed and signs were posted come from Three Rivers students. The signs weren't taken down until April 5, when Three Rivers officials requested it, the school claims.

"My desk is covered with anecdotal complaints from students and instructors about the rudeness and hostility directed toward them at the SEMO centers since the split occurred," Judith Scott, Three Rivers' vice president for college advancement, said in a press release.

A notice was posted by staff on March 31 before paper arrived telling students to bring their own paper due to the shortage, Wallhausen said. The notice wasn't removed until April 5 due to oversight and staff shortage, including the center's director and coordinator of academic programs, he said.

Southeast promised such a situation won't happen in the future.

Continued enrollment

While the battle between the schools intensifies and the end of spring classes approaches, both schools are still actively enrolling students in summer and fall semester classes in the Bootheel.

Three Rivers has enrolled 205 students in lower-division classes that the community college plans to teach at area high schools and community centers now that Southeast has announced plans to take over teaching of all classes at the Kennett, Malden and Sikeston higher education centers starting this summer.

Randall Lee, vice president of student affairs at Three Rivers, said 65 percent of those students are enrolled in summer classes, while the rest are enrolled for fall. More than half of the students enrolled for summer and fall classes are from the Sikeston area, Lee said.

Southeast officials initially voiced concern about releasing enrollment figures because of Three Rivers' lawsuit against the university.

Wallhausen said the university staff didn't have figures yet on how many students have enrolled for summer and fall classes at the three higher education centers.

But he said so far 1,867 seats have been filled for lower-division and upper-division classes for summer and fall at the three centers. Wallhausen said he doesn't know how many students are enrolled because the registration total counts a student every time he or she enrolls in a class.