STORMY YEAR LEAVES US NO LESS FOND OF UNIVERSITY

Southeast Missouri State University turns loose the Class of 1994 this week, with graduates wrapping up their final examinations Friday. This marks a bittersweet milestone for the students, who will leave what was hopefully a pleasant and rewarding period in their lives for new experiences in seeking higher degrees or in the work force. It is also a time of the year when Cape Girardeau and the region can reflect on the value of the university and all it represents. The school's contribution to life here remains considerable.

For Southeast, its students and its officials, the soon-to-end academic year has been stormy, a period in which some sweeping issues were encountered at too-close-for-comfort range.

Students on campus came face to face with organizational hazing and its dreadful consequences. When student Michael Davis died, the result of beatings allegedly inflicted on him by persons in a fraternity he wanted to join, the entire campus suffered the senseless loss. Not only was a young life ended, but the lives of other students charged in connection with the killing have been woefully altered. A university experience is about learning lessons; this lesson carried too high a price.

In addition, two Southeast professors enjoined the university this year in a debate over academic freedom. One case involved the dismissal of a professor for what he claimed was an expression of his opinions concerning a controversy within his academic discipline. The other dealt with an alleged classroom incident of sexual harassment and the university's stab at due process in its aftermath. In both cases, the campus community was pressed into examining broad issues that make good reading in academic journals but normally don't hit so near to home.

While the university's most resolute group of supporters can be found among the townspeople of Cape Girardeau, the town-and-gown relationship felt unusual strain in the last year. The university's foundation accepted authority for running the license bureaus in Cape Girardeau and Jackson, displacing the respective chambers of commerce in the communities and collecting the proceeds that had formerly gone toward economic development activities. More recently, the university and local business people stood at odds over merchandising competition hosted at campus venues, with tension caused by events such as a one-day clothing sale and the talked-about establishment of an on-premises chain restaurant.

With any institution like a university, trying to manage a unique government within another governmental entity, there will occasionally be uneven relations. There are sometimes problems, but problems get worked out. What remains inarguable is Southeast Missouri State's enormous value to Cape Girardeau and the surrounding area. Obviously, much of this is rooted in finances. According to one study, the nearly 950 employees at the university and the more-than 8,500 undergraduate and graduate students are responsible for $90.5 million in direct and indirect expenditures each year. Further, they and some contracted services contribute nearly $785,000 to the local tax base and supplement the monetary base, at banks and so on, to the tune of almost $13 million.

Aside from dollars and cents, this can be defined in terms of quality-of-life issues. In Cape Girardeau County and its four adjacent neighboring counties, there are about 7,000 graduates of Southeast Missouri State. Certainly, their lives were enriched by the institution, and they, in turn, have become more useful members of their communities.

The end of a spring semester brings to Cape Girardeau a calm that is missing during the academic year. This calm isn't necessarily welcome. We enjoy the vitality the student population brings to this city. They are part of what makes Cape Girardeau special. For those young adults who are departing, we wish you well. For those who will be returning in the fall, we look forward to seeing you back. For the venerable school on the hill, we will always appreciate the role you play in this community.