SBU board accepts gift from Gott family

Southwest Baptist University's board of trustees accepted a major property gift and voted to rename a renovated campus building at its meeting Oct. 6, according to a news release from SBU.

Trustees accepted a property gift from Hammons Products Co. of Stockton. The five-acre tract about a half mile west of the university's main campus in Bolivar will provide a 17,000-square-foot office and warehouse facility for SBU's physical plant operations. The physical plant is now housed in four different locations on the campus.

The gift is thought to be the largest single gift of property in university history, SBU President C. Pat Taylor told the trustees.

Trustees also voted to name a recently renovated facility as the Wayne and Betty Gott Educational Center. The Gotts, of Salem, are owners of the Town and Country Supermarket chain in southern Missouri and northern Arkansas.

In addition, the trustees gave final approval to the 1998-99 operating budget and accepted the audit for the 1997-98 fiscal year. Trustees traditionally give tentative approval to the operating budget at their spring meeting, pending final enrollment figures for the fall semester.

Because of higher-than-anticipated enrollment, trustees approved an adjusted operating budget of $26 million, up from the original budget of $25.39 million.