UNIVERSITY OFFICIALS TALK ABOUT ISSUES

Southeast Missouri State University president Dr. Dale Nitzschke won't recommend a new mascot for the school until he sees drawings of a committee's three choices.

The university president and his top administrators reached that conclusion during a two-day retreat last week at Nitzschke's campus home.

The mascot issue was just one of the items discussed at the retreat. Nitzschke and his executive staff also talked about the need to attract more minority and international students to the campus. He said the issue is one of economics. "If we don't have international and minority students, our enrollments won't stabilize," he said.

School officials also decided to set up a continuing education program by the end of the year. Many jobs require continuing education. Teachers, realtors, lawyers and doctors are among those whose professions demand such education.

"We do little or nothing in the way of continuing education at the university," Nitzschke said. "We really have got to get on board," he said. "That is a very important part of educational opportunities for Southeast Missouri."

The mascot issue has been a topic of campus discussion for months. A university committee recommended in May that the school adopt a sun figure as its mascot and scrap its war-beat-sounding pep song. Committee members recommended a hawk and an eagle as its second and third choices.

But Nitzschke said Monday that he and his executive staff first want to see what such mascots could look like. He said a St. Louis company has agreed to provide artist renderings for free with a view toward possibly securing the job to construct whatever costume the university settles on.

Nitzschke said he may take the drawings back to the university's mascot committee for its input. Ultimately, it is up to Nitzschke to recommend a mascot to the Board of Regents. The board would make the final decision.

After abandoning its Chief Sagamore and Princess Otahki mascots 10 years ago, the school experimented briefly with two other mascots.

The school hasn't had a mascot for the past several years.

The mascot committee advised the school to keep its Indian and Otahkian nicknames, but said the university should discourage caricatures of Indians or Indian culture.

Committee members said caricatures on T-shirts and coffee mugs, red face painting or body painting, simulated war dances and tomahawk chops should be avoided.

The committee recommended the university educate people about the region's Indian heritage.

"I think we need to educate ourselves," Nitzschke said, but "We have no plans to do away with the Indian logo and culture here."

Nitzschke said he hopes to meet with leaders of the Cherokee Nation in Memphis later this month to discuss their feelings about the university's use of Indian nicknames and the mascot issue.

Nitzschke said he believes the university can keep its Indian nickname and also be sensitive to the Native American culture, a view supported by most members of the mascot committee.

Southeast's president said he and the executive staff decided at the retreat to put a renewed emphasis on attracting international students.

Nitzschke said international-student enrollment declined over the past five years after the school decentralized international-student operations on campus. "We are going to recentralize the whole operation," he said.

In fall 1992, Southeast had 350 international students. By last fall the number had dropped to 253.

In today's global economy it is important to have a strong cultural exchange with international students and faculty around the world, Nitzschke said.

Minority enrollment has dropped too. In 1992, 504 blacks were enrolled at Southeast. By last fall the number had dropped to 316, university records show.

Nitzschke said the university is working on plans to boost enrollment. He said a new enrollment director has been hired and should be on the job by August.