Record achievements show College worthy of university status
Zack Odem

Student Senate President

Missouri Southern State College should be given the recognition it merits; Southern should be a university.

Just as it once was a junior college maturing into a college, now Southern is a comprehensive college worthy of university status. Why does Southern deserve such significance? Because we have earned it! We have earned it by consistently graduating graduates that are at the top of the state in test scores and placement exams; by charging the lowest tuition and receiving the least from the state while still challenging fellow state universities; by producing superior schools of criminal justice, teacher education, and business; by establishing year after year that in the area of academics, Southern's professors provide arguably a better education than one would obtain at the University of Missouri, Southwest Missouri State University or Lincoln University, or almost any other public university in Missouri.

Missouri Southern should be a university, not to raise the tuition its students pay, but to receive the recognition its students deserve. One might say that if Southern truly has done these things, why is it not already a university? Simply put, it is because certain state lawmakers think the name of a school does not matter, or at least the name of Missouri Southern does not matter. Nevertheless, if this is truly the case, then I challenge our friends in Columbia to change the name of the University of Missouri to Missouri College. I think most people would agree the title of university brings a certain prestige to any school, and I think Southern has earned this prestige.

I am not asking Southern be given anything it does not deserve. I am not asking for more funding from the state - although it is desperately needed - I am simply asking that Missouri Southern be given the credit it merits within the state of Missouri and in the world forum where Southern has long been a leader.

University status would provide the recognition our College and students deserve. Additionally, it would more appropriately represent Southern in the international community. University status should not be a political debate decided by filibuster but should be a standing given when earned. And Missouri Southern has earned it.