Three Rivers Community College wants to open an educational center in Cape Girardeau County in 2008, moving onto the home turf of Southeast Missouri State University.
The plan comes about two years after the schools parted ways on three higher education centers they used to run together. When state funding changed, Southeast Missouri State said it was losing money on the arrangement. When the schools couldn’t agree on finances, control and rent, Southeast evicted Three Rivers from centers in Sikeston, Malden and Kennett in 2005.
A lawsuit Three Rivers filed against Southeast Missouri for breach of contract remains unresolved, scheduled to be heard next year. And both schools have opened separate regional educational centers in southeast Missouri.
The executive vice president at the Poplar Bluff-based community college, Larry Kimbrow, said Monday the work to open an educational center in Cape Girardeau County is “totally unrelated” to the educational center dispute with Cape Girardeau-based Southeast Missouri.
Outside observers don’t agree: “Let’s get ready to rumble!” wrote one person, who did not give a full name when posting an Internet comment on the latest development.
And even those with a more measured take on the matter say the dispute between the schools must be a factor.
“I think this is related to the lawsuit,” said businessman Earl Norman, who has been advocating for more educational opportunities in the Cape Girardeau region.
He said that months ago, representatives from the region met and requested that the state fund a study to assess educational needs in the area.
“This really is an effort to pre-empt that study, if you will,” he said. “I think they should sit back and wait a little bit.” That study has not yet been commissioned.
Kimbrow said the community college has a four-county taxing district in Butler, Carter, Shannon and Wayne counties. But it has a 15-county service area, designated by the state, that includes Cape Girardeau County. The Cape Girardeau plan would still need state approval.
The community college already has more than 30 satellite locations where classes are offered, including five larger educational centers in Sikeston, Malden, Campbell, Kennett and Portageville. The Portageville site is run in conjunction with the University of Missouri extension center, he said.
“There’s been a huge outcry from residents to start a new community college in Cape,” he said. “We have a viable program we can take into their area.
“We didn’t do this because of the eviction at the centers.”
He said Three Rivers could offer associate of arts, associate of applied science and associate of arts in teaching programs in Cape Girardeau.
Kimbrow said the Cape Girardeau center could cost roughly $300,000 to open, with funds coming from the community college’s reserve fund, not new taxes. It would aim to have about 200 students two years after it opens.
An official at Southeast Missouri State University said that institution believed interested parties had agreed that a study of the region’s needs should be done before any steps were taken.
Art Wallhausen, associate to Southeast Missouri’s president, argued against duplicating services in the county. He said, for instance, that 17 associate of applied science degrees are already offered in the Cape Girardeau area by four institutions.
In addition to its Cape Girardeau campus, Southeast Missouri has regional centers in Perryville, Sikeston, Malden and Kennett.
Kimbrow said Three Rivers could provide new educational opportunities in the Cape Girardeau area, as well as enroll those not accepted to Southeast Missouri.
Wallhausen said Southeast Missouri is a moderately selective school for admissions, but said the school has a one-semester program for students not accepted to prepare them for Southeast.
Missouri’s Commissioner of Higher Education Robert Stein said the department had not yet received Three Rivers’ proposal. The Missouri Coordinating Board for Higher Education meets in October and could take up the matter at that meeting.
– Associated Press
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