SUN MASCOT IS CLOUDED BY HANDLING OF DISMISSAL

A committee at Southeast Missouri State University has embraced a foolproof politically correct mascot: the sun in the sky.

If the committee's recommendation is adopted, gone will be the war-beat pep song. Gone will be any caricatures of Indians on T-shirts or mugs. And heaven forbid any war paint or tomahawk chops at the games.

As a token, the committee agreed to keep the university's Indian and Otahkian nicknames even though a handful of members felt the terms are disrespectful to Indians.

Says who?

The vast majority area residents both like and respect the region's Indian heritage. The fact local ball teams are named after Indians is a point of pride, not ridicule.

There simply has been no clamor to scrap the Indian namesakes at the university. Change for change's sake is not always advisable.

Finishing second and third in the committee's choices for a new mascot were a hawk and an eagle.

The recommendation goes to university president Dale Nitzschke and then the Board of Regents. But the president and board should remember there are more than three choices. A fourth option is to keep the Indian traditions intact.

The committee's task was to find a new mascot. It came at the request of students who said a mascot might improve school spirit. School spirit among students and the community have certainly plummeted in recent days, and no mascot would help the situation.

Perhaps time would be better spent on improving the university's tarnished image due to the badly handled firing of head basketball coach Ron Shumate.

The firing was directly tied to investigations into recruiting violations.

Shumate, who won more games than any other coach in the history of Southeast basketball, was notified of his dismissal by a fax to his attorney. A fax. That is unconscionable.

A valued employee of 16 years -- any years of service for that matter -- deserves far better treatment. He deserved to meet face to face with the Board of Regents and school officials.

What makes the matter even more unforgivable is the sequence of events. The Board of Regents voted to terminate Shumate on a Monday. On Tuesday night, Shumate handed out awards at an athletics banquet at the university -- standing alongside people who already knew he was fired. No one wanted to mar the sports banquet. Instead they choose to tarnish the university's reputation.

On Wednesday, Shumate was summoned to an "evaluation." But the coach was already planning to attend a friend's funeral in Benton, Ill. He told university officials he would be back in the office at 4 o'clock. He waited until 5 o'clock, but no one called or came by. Later that day, he was notified by his attorneys that he had been dismissed as a coach.

The university has gone silent because the investigation is ongoing and because lawsuits may be filed.

But the silence -- and Shumate's treatment -- may not help the university's standing with athletic's boosters, who were left completely out of the loop. These are the same people who provide the primary funding for all athletic scholarships at Southeast.

Whether or not Shumate deserved to be fired, no one should learn of his dismissal by fax.

A dark cloud is hanging over Southeast Missouri State University. And even a new mascot won't make things sunny again.