SEMO'S PRESIDENT

When the regents of Southeast Missouri State University meet today, they will have a final review of the three finalists seeking to become the university's next president. In all likelihood, the five regents will choose one man and make a job offer.

This is a big decision, one that is being taken seriously by each regent. As one of the regents, Doyle Privett of Kennett, said during a meeting over the weekend of the Southeast Missouri Press Association, choosing a president is the No. 1 task of the Board of Regents.

There are far-reaching effects inherent in filling the presidency of a state university. Among them:

-- The university president heads a regional institution whose geographic constituency is diverse and has many needs. While much emphasis is put on the programs and policies at the Cape Girardeau campus, residents of the Bootheel area focus on the university-operated center at Malden. Thus the leader of the university must be able to concentrate on programs that benefit both students at the university's campus and those involved in programs elsewhere.

-- As as a resource center, the economic well-being of Southeast Missouri is one of the university's main concerns. The new president will inherit ongoing programs that have striven to find ways to make this area's economy prosper. New ideas and the ability to translate those ideas into meaningful actions are important qualities for the new president.

-- And the university is at the core of the Cape Girardeau community, not just through the large number of local residents employed by the university or served by a variety of educational programs, but also as a center of arts and culture and a catalyst for critical thinking that incorporates townspeople who have deep-seated interests in the ability of the university to attract big-name speakers and performers.

Each of the three presidential finalists -- Williams C. Merwin, Dale F. Nitzsche and G. Warren Smith -- offer strengths that would be useful to the university's mission and to the needs of the economically, culturally and socially diverse portion of Missouri the university is intended to serve.

The important task for the regents is to choose a leader who has a vision that matches those needs and the ability to guide the school and its programs along the course that is best, not just the course that is expedient.