NET MAY COME DOWN ON SOUTHEAST MEN'S TENNIS TEAM

The net apparently will be coming down on the men's tennis program at Southeast Missouri State University.

The university administration has recommended terminating the program, partly because of gender equity concerns in intercollegiate athletics at Southeast.

The Board of Regents will consider terminating men's tennis when the board meets Friday. The meeting will begin at 1:30 p.m. in the University Center Ballroom.

In other action, the regents will consider submitting to the Missouri Coordinating Board for Higher Education a $74.1 million operating budget request for the 1995 fiscal year.

The board will also consider plans for a chilled water facility to improve the cooling capacity for buildings on the north side of the campus, including the science buildings, Towers complex and the Show Me Center. The project is expected to cost about $1.6 million and would be done in conjunction with the Towers renovation work, university officials said.

Art Wallhausen, assistant to the president at Southeast, said athletic programs all over the country are faced with the gender equity issue "the need to have programs for women that are essentially identical in numbers of people involved and dollars invested" to that of men's athletic programs.

"The question is how many student athletes are involved in the sport and how much money do you spend on them?"

Men's football, for example, costs more and involves more athletes than other sports, Wallhausen said.

"It throws your balance off in terms of the balance between the genders," he said.

The NCAA requires its Division I members to field either seven men's and seven women's teams, or six men's and eight women's teams.

With the elimination of men's tennis, Southeast would field six men's and eight women's teams. The women's tennis program would continue.

"We see it as a way to promote gender equity in our athletic program," Wallhausen said.

The recent resignation of tennis coach Allen Hope and changes in Ohio Valley Conference and NCAA team sport requirements were also factors in the recommendation to terminate men's tennis, Wallhausen said.

As to the operating budget request, Wallhausen described it as a funding "wish list."

"We think we can justify everything that is in this request," he said. But he said full funding is unrealistic.

"Realistically, unless there is a major increase in state funding, we would not expect to get the entire amount in a given year," said Wallhausen.

It envisions $56.9 million in core or basic program expenses and $17.2 million in added funding for the next fiscal year, which begins July 1, 1994.

The core expenses are calculated on the basis of the current fiscal year's base budget, including the 3 percent in state funding withheld by the governor, he said.

Wallhausen said the budget request lists the complete budget, factoring in state appropriations, student fees and other revenue sources.

The $17.2 million would be used to meet major program needs in four areas, Wallhausen said.

The four areas are: increasing college attendance rates by removing barriers to disadvantaged students in Southeast Missouri; fostering student success rates; enhancing quality; and establishing new programs for regional economic development and to meet statewide needs.

Wallhausen said increased funding for the Bootheel Education Center at Malden and state aid to expand the federal Trio program for first-generation, disadvantaged college students are among the items proposed by Southeast to boost college attendance rates.

As to fostering student success and graduation rates, Wallhausen said the university is talking about a cooperative education program, among other things. Such a program would allow students to gain work experience while going to college at the same time.

Better assessment regarding student success is also proposed in the document.

Wallhausen said plans for enhancing quality includes funding for achieving and maintaining program accreditations, as well as participation in an automated, statewide library network.

Funding for state-of-the-art industrial technology equipment is one of the items mentioned in terms of economic development projects.

In other business, the board will consider revising its employee leave policy to meet federal law, allowing Southwestern Bell to use the future KRCU tower for cellular phone transmissions, and approving the transfer of a former bank building at 222 N. Pacific to the Southeast Missouri University Foundation.

The property currently houses the Small Business Development Center and Boatmen's Bank wants to transfer ownership of the property to the university foundation.