River Campus offers old-time religion

By Bill Weber

Born in the 1930s Depression era, Keynesian economics espoused a doctrine of government spending of its citizens' money to maintain full employment and promote economic development. While never working very well, Keynes' ideas provided cover for government officials to expand the size of government.

In his 1971 State of the Union speech, President Nixon promised "an expansionary budget this year -- one that will help stimulate the economy and open up new job opportunities for millions of Americans." In an interview after the speech, Nixon proclaimed with pride, "Now I am a Keynesian." Thus began the 1970s era of stagflation.

In the 1980s, Ronald Reagan attacked the Keynesian doctrine. Borrowing from Frederich Hayek, Reagan provided a philosophical foundation for cuts in taxes and government spending by asking why bureaucrats thought they could make decisions about how to spend citizens' money better than those individuals could themselves.

Much of the impetus behind the proposed River Campus is a belief that economic development will occur in south Cape following the spending of public money. So great is this belief that, in the wake of the Missouri Supreme Court ruling allowing the River Campus to proceed, elected Republican officials and newspaper editors kneel alongside Democrats at the altar of Lord Keynes. And if one listens carefully, she can hear Southeast Missouri State University administrators and local politicos chanting "We are not Keynesians too!" Evidently, pork-barrel spending projects only occur in other people's cities and congressional districts.

More than 17 years ago, SEMO leaders were right to push for the Show Me Center to be located on campus. Those same arguments are still valid for a performing arts center. Students, especially, have no desire to bear the added cost of a 20-minute commute to and from the main campus. While B.W. Harrison was generous to donate money to purchase the former St. Vincent's Seminary property, it is hard to fathom why a scenic view of the river, valued at only $800,000 (and probably less if the tax benefits of the donation are considered), is the constraining factor in a $36 million project.

The $36 million cost is, technically, a one-time expenditure. But unless university officials have somehow invented a perpetual-motion machine, additional costs will have to be incurred to heat and cool the buildings, provide maintenance and security, bus students and hire faculty.

Cape Girardeau's city officials displayed good fiscal sense by insisting that the university bear the operating costs of the River Campus.

Operating expenses of commercial real estate tend to average between 10 percent and 40 percent of the value invested. For example, the Federal Reserve reports that operating costs for the physical capital of bank buildings, ATM machines, computers etc. averaged just over 30 percent during the 1990s. Even if SEMO could somehow manage to keep operating expenses at a mere 5 percent of the building costs, and extra $1.8 million annually will have to be found in the university's operating budget, an amount that does not include the hiring of new faculty.

Already the university is paying lawyers and lobbyists to support the River Campus. Last year the university cut $150,000 in printed library periodicals. Not coincidentally, university lobbyist Dale Nitzschke's salary and budget totaled around $160,000. Although Nitzschke"s salary has been transferred to the university foundation and is technically off-budget, the transfer was little more than an accounting smoke-and-mirrors trick that would make an Enron auditor proud.

Many folks in the city and at the university support the performing arts but question the wisdom of a River Campus. We send our children to the Southeast Music Academy and to private dance classes, attend schools plays and concerts and, on occasion, go to the Muny or the Fox or Powell Hall in St. Louis. But we also see mission creep in the university goal of the River Campus.

Henry Kissinger once remarked, "When enough bureaucratic prestige has been invested in a policy, it is easier to see it fail than to abandon it." It will take real leadership to abandon the River Campus in favor of an on-campus performing arts center and/or to enhance the many programs already offered at Southeast.

Future students and citizens of Missouri deserve no less.

Bill Weber is an economics professor at Southeast Missouri State University.