Alcorn State University and Copiah-Lincoln Community College share a Natchez campus, occasional classroom space and a planned fine arts facility. But that close relationship could find itself on tenuous ground, depending on the outcome of a drama being played out on the state’s gulf coast.

The University of Southern Mississippi wants to provide freshman and sophomore-level classes on its gulf coast campus.

But just down the road, Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College officials fear those classes will duplicate their courses and cause too much competition.

So the state Board of Community and Junior Colleges and three other community college organizations — as well as 29 individuals — have filed a lawsuit against the Institutes of Higher Learning, the board which governs state universities and gave USM the authority to offer lower-level classes on the coast.

At issue is a 1972 state law, established because USM once had a satellite campus in Natchez, which prohibits universities from providing lower-level classes at their off-campus sites without permission from the state community college board.

&uot;The law is clear on the establishment of courses at off-campus facilities,&uot; said Kenneth Taylor, a professor of accounting and business law at Co-Lin’s Natchez campus and a plaintiff in the lawsuit.

&uot;A community college shall do the first two years, and a senior institution shall do the third and fourth years.&uot;

But, with the gulf coast growing in population, many people believe that area of the state needs a four-year university, or at least a greater emphasis on higher education.

When legislative efforts to do that failed, USM and IHL officials sought an attorney general’s opinion on establishing lower level classes at the gulf coast campus — and Attorney General Mike Moore gave his approval.

The decision — one Taylor sees as Moore’s &uot;passing the buck&uot; for political reasons — came as a surprise to community college officials, who say they enjoyed a good relationship with the state’s eight public universities because of the 1972 law.

&uot;They’d been living by that law for 20 years,&uot; said Dr. Ronnie Nettles, dean of Co-Lin’s Natchez campus.

The law &uot;required universities to come through our board to get permission to teach freshman and sophomore classes at off-campus sites,&uot; said Dr. Olon Ray, president of the Mississippi Board of Community and Junior Colleges, which oversees the state’s 15 community and junior colleges. &uot;Over the years that has worked very well.&uot;

Faced with the possibility of a new precedent, community college officials filed suit in Hinds County Chancery Court in April. The lawsuit now awaits a decision from state Supreme Court justices as to whether they’ll hear arguments in the case.

Ray said he expects a decision by the end of the year at the earliest, or perhaps the beginning of 2001.

In the meantime, the plaintiffs secured an injunction to keep USM from pursuing upper-level classes at its gulf coast campus until the lawsuit is settled.

What makes the case interesting both to Natchez and to the rest of the state, plaintiffs say, is the precedent it could set.

&uot;Any other school could do the same thing,&uot; Taylor said, noting even Co-Lin and Alcorn could find themselves at odds one day. &uot;We would be in direct competition with Alcorn.&uot;

Currently, Alcorn and Co-Lin, by all accounts, have a strong relationship in Natchez.

Lorman-based Alcorn, which offers nursing and MBA programs in Natchez, has begun offering junior- and senior-year business classes to complement the lower level classes at Co-Lin.

Taylor said some of his students are taking advantage of that program, taking classes across the street at Alcorn.

And, if $10 million in funding comes through from the Legislature, the schools will share ownership and operation of a fine arts facility on the Natchez campus. The legislation to allow the schools to share ownership — the first such relationship in the state — passed the Legislature last year, but state budget woes have prevented approval of the funds.

Those same budget woes — including last year’s cuts in higher education — have community college officials wondering why IHL would spend money on what they say would be duplication of courses on the coast.

&uot;This has caused concern among a number of people,&uot; Ray said. &uot;We don’t have the money to operate (the schools) we have now. … With limited resources, the revenue we have would be further divided among other institutions.&uot;

&uot;It opens the door for duplication of programs,&uot; Nettles said. &uot;There would be thousands of dollars spent on lower division courses that are also available (at Gulf Coast Community College).&uot;

College and university officials do seem to agree on one point: The coast needs more higher education programs because of its expanding population.

&uot;We think the gulf coast has a need for more degree programs,&uot; Ray said.

&uot;The educational needs there have to be addressed,&uot; said Dr. Clinton Bristow, president of Alcorn State University and the head of the Mississippi Association of Colleges.

Bristow said the option he favors for the gulf coast is a higher education center, which would allow the community college and the USM branch — and possibly other universities — to work together to offer courses without duplication. &uot;We have a lot of successful models for that around the country,&uot; Bristow said. &uot;(Students) would be able to take advantage of not just one university. … The community gets more class offerings and more choices in terms of universities.&uot;

And Bristow said he thinks higher education officials don’t need to look beyond Mississippi’s borders to find that cooperation.

&uot;In Natchez, that’s exactly what we have, on a smaller scale,&uot; Bristow said.

Because of population, Natchez doesn’t have the same educational needs as the growing gulf coast, Bristow said, but he still wants to see the Co-Lin/Alcorn campus grow.

Nettles agreed the Natchez campus provides a model for cooperation, in part because the administrations of both schools have strived for that harmony.

But community college officials still want insurance through the lawsuit that they won’t have to worry in the future.

&uot;It’s unlikely because of the relationship between Co-Lin and Alcorn that that would ever happen in Natchez,&uot; Nettles said, referring to the discord on the coast. &uot;But the administration for both colleges might not be here forever.&uot;