IS HE WORTH IT? FORMER SOUTHEAST PRESIDENT DALE NITZSCHKE'S NEW SIX-FIGURE CONTRACT HAS SOME WONDERING... IS HE WORTH IT?

Southeast Missouri State University officials say the school profited by retaining former president Dale Nitzschke as its fund-raising chancellor, a renamed position that will pay him $120,000 plus up to $45,000 in expenses under this year's contract.

In June, even as the board of regents considered skipping faculty raises and hiking tuition midyear, they unanimously approved rehiring him. President Don Dickerson said he would "like to hire six more."

Thanks in large part to his efforts, they say, the university has grabbed more than $10 million in federal funds and private donations over the past two years.

But critics, including many among the faculty, see the position as a golden parachute. Nitzschke resigned as Southeast's president in 1999 after three years at the helm.

The university's board of regents immediately appointed him to the newly created position of chancellor, a job that allowed him to work from his home in the Cincinnati suburb of Milford, Ohio. They borrowed the unusual title from another university that retained a former president on the payroll.

"It has been a wonderful thing for us," Dickerson said.

"The whole board, I think, is real pleased about how well this has worked out."

Nitzschke helped funnel nearly $7.8 million in federal money to Southeast in the past two years to fund everything from the River Campus arts school project to the Otto and Della Seabaugh Polytechnic Building, school officials say.

Nitzschke, 63, said he also had a hand in securing more than $3 million in private donations over the past two years, including $1.36 million from five donors in the fiscal year that ended June 30. The donors include two from Missouri. The gifts included 75 pieces of artwork valued at $90,000 and donated by the New York Artists Equity Association.

The $3 million amounts to about 40 percent of the nearly $7.2 million given to the university's fund-raising foundation in the past two years.

Dr. Ken Dobbins, who succeeded Nitzschke as university president, also insists retaining his predecessor was the right move for university fund raising.

"We might have gotten some of it, but we wouldn't have gotten all of it," he said of the $10 million Nitzschke claims as his work.

Nitzschke's two-year term as chancellor ended in June, and the regents eliminated the position but retained him as a consultant. No longer a university employee, he continues to raise money for the school under a one-year contract that can be renewed annually.

Nitzschke said last week he works exclusively for Southeast. "I really feel a full commitment to this place. I don't desire to work for anybody else," said Nitzschke, who, outfitted in his trademark stylish suit and tie, offers a ready smile and glad handshake to those he meets and greets for the university.

Nitzschke said he would have to get permission from the regents if he wanted to take on another client.

Satisfying the auditor

Dickerson said the regents reworked the contract and moved Nitzschke to a consultant's role to avoid further criticism from State Auditor Claire McCaskill. She questioned last year the university's decision to allow Nitzschke to handle fund raising from his home in Ohio where he lives with his wife, Linda.

University officials insisted there wasn't anything wrong with the arrangement. It didn't matter where Nitzschke lived just as long as he brought in the money by lobbying for federal dollars in Washington and private gifts from wealthy individuals around the country, they said.

Glenn Campbell, a spokesman for the state auditor, said residency isn't the same issue for a consultant it is for an employee, he said. The title change eliminated the auditor's concern.

Some university employees still are troubled that Nitzschke lives so far from the university he serves, but economics professor Terry Sutton says that's not the issue.

"Where he lives makes no difference. He could live in Anchorage, Alaska. What counts is how much money he brings in," said Sutton, who believes hiring Nitzschke was a good financial move for the university.

Residency wasn't the state auditor's only concern last year. The foundation had paid for Nitzschke's membership in a Cincinnati-area country club and provided him with a car in his role as chancellor.

Under the new contract, those perks have been eliminated.

Finding the money

Dobbins said the university saved money by not filling some administration positions in recent years. Those savings are being used to pay Nitzschke, he said.

The university is saving at least $10,000 by moving Nitzschke to a consultant's role, Dobbins said.

Last fiscal year, Nitzschke was paid $95,000, or $43,250 less than he made as school president. He also received an annuity, bumping his total compensation up to $118,000. The university budgeted another $25,000 for travel, entertainment and operating expenses.

Costs for retirement, Social Security, health insurance benefits, the car and country club membership boosted the total expense to about $175,000.

Several professors who grouse about Nitzschke's salary privately refused to go public with their concerns.

But economics professor William L. Weber said the money spent on Nitzschke would have been better spent elsewhere. He said the federal money Nitzschke has secured for the River Campus arts school project won't outweigh the future financial drain the project will have on the university.

The university has proposed spending $36 million to turn a former Catholic seminary several blocks from the main campus into a visual and performing arts school, a project currently tied up in the courts over Cape Girardeau's role in funding.

Weber said the cost of depreciation and maintenance will add as much as $3.6 million in future expenses for the university, and he wishes Nitzschke would quit raising money for the project. "I would rather him do nothing," he said.

The money spent for Nitzschke's services could better be used to cut tuition, he said.

Like most students, junior Lynn Casteel admits she doesn't know much about Nitzschke's contract. Her only concern about the former president is whether students ever will pay his salary through higher tuition.

"One of the most attractive features of Southeast is the quality of education students receive at a relatively low cost," she said.

Snagging federal bucks

But school officials insist he's worth the cost, particularly when it comes to snaring federal funds.

It's common for larger schools to have lobbyists in Washington. But Southeast didn't have anyone permanently assigned to lobby bureaucrats and Congress until Nitzschke was hired as chancellor.

"The fact is, the university wasn't getting that money," Nitzschke said.

He acknowledges the efforts of the Missouri congressional delegation, particularly U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson and U.S. Sen. Christopher Bond, both Republicans.

But he and others say it is important for the school to have someone in the halls of the Capitol. "If you are not there, you are forgotten," he said.

Emerson said Nitzschke's experience as president of Southeast helps him better represent the school than if he were just a hired gun.

"He actually puts a human face on the university," said Emerson. "He is so enthusiastic and passionate.

"He is the farthest thing from a hired gun lobbyist that I would know," she said.

Money list Federal funds for Southeast Missouri State University

Fiscal 2000

$1 million for Polytechnic Building

$500,000 for crime lab

Total: $1.5 million

Fiscal 2001

$2.6 million for River Campus project

$1.2 million for Gear Up program to prepare children for college

$1 million for Polytechnic Building

$650,000 for university transit program.

$400,000 for crime lab

$275,000 for training of Advanced Placement teachers

$105,492 for KRCU, the region's public radio affiliate station

$47,000 Crowley's Ridge Scenic Byway grant

Total: $6,277,492