TO CLIPS INDEX Clips for January 30, 2009

Robert Robb: Fund students, not college institutions
The Arizona Republic 1/30/09
Budget crunches should be an opportunity for
structural reforms that are otherwise too politically
difficult. That opportunity, however, is rarely seized.
The exigencies of the moment absorb all the avail-
able political energy. As legislators scramble and
struggle to make the dollars and cents tote up,
they should resolve not to let the opportunity for
structural reforms pass them by. Nowhere is the
need more evident than in university funding. The
universities are the third-largest consumers of
general-fund revenue. Funding for the two largest
- K-12 education and the state's Medicaid pro-
gram - is to some degree voter protected.

State budget cutbacks nearly locked in by
GOP legislators
The Arizona Republic 1/30/09
Republican legislators appear poised to approve
a $1.6billion fix to the state budget today, after a
day of protests from the public, education
advocates and others pleading that their programs
be spared. The House and Senate appropriations
committees ignored Democrats' calls for more time
and approved the six-bill budget-reduction package
on nearly party-line votes Thursday, sending it to the
full Legislature for consideration today. The plan
would bridge a state shortfall for the remainder of
this fiscal year. Part of a package put together by
GOP legislative leaders in consultation with Gov.
Jan Brewer, the plan for fiscal 2009 would cut
nearly $300 million from K-12 and higher
education.

Army gives ASU $50 million for flex display
East Valley Tribune 1/30/09
Arizona State University said Thursday the U.S.
Army will fund an additional five years of research
at the university’s Flexible Display Center to develop
computer display screens that can fold and bend.
The contract renewal was valued at $50 million and
follows an initial five-year contract signed in 2004
that also amounted to $50 million. The university
and industrial partners have been developing full-
color flexible display screens at a center located
at the ASU Research Park in Tempe. The Army is
interested in flexible information displays that can
be worn on soldiers’ sleeves to provide data use-
ful for carrying out military missions. Also flexible
screens that can fold or roll up could have many
applications in the civilian world.

NAU restarts composting program
Arizona Daily Sun 1/30/09
Northern Arizona University is planning to restart
composting after a hiatus of a few years. Food
waste from a dining hall on south side of campus
will be sorted and hauled by student volunteers
into a garden maintained by the Students for
Sustainable Living and Urban Gardening. The
university formerly had a composting program
that led to 20 tons of compost in 2000, and 100
tons by 2003. NAU President John Haeger made
a pledge to make NAU carbon-neutral by 2020,
which includes greenhouse gas emitted by the
university's landfill-bound waste.

State budget cuts move toward vote
Capitol Media Services/Arizona Daily Sun
1/30/09
PHOENIX -- Two legislative panels voted late
Thursday to slash state spending by more than
$1.1 billion. The package, crafted by Republican
legislative leaders and adopted over Democratic
opposition, cuts the operating budgets of state
agencies by up to 10 percent. On top of that, each
agency will have to cut its personnel expenses by
more than 4 percent. But those figures actually
are misleading, as only five months remain in
the budget year to absorb those cuts. …But the
big cuts are in the area of education.

Editorial Opinion: GOP hacking of state budget is
destructive
Arizona Daily Star 1/30/09
Our view: Republicans' high-handed refusal to
consider alternatives is wrong. The GOP majority
in the state Legislature has apparently struck a
deal to make up a $1.6 billion deficit over the
next five months. Its title: "Let's dismantle our
government!" This bodes ill for the way the
Republican leadership is likely to handle an
expected $3 billion deficit next fiscal year, which
begins July 1. Cut the state must, no question.
The state's revenues are diving because of a
recession of historic proportions, and not to
reduce spending judiciously would be
irresponsible. But there are other solutions the
GOP leadership and governor have refused to
consider.

$1.1B in AZ cuts all but certain
Arizona Daily Star 1/30/09
PHOENIX — Legislative panels clear way for
approval today; tens of millions would be lopped
from education. A $1.1 billion package in cuts to
the state budget is headed toward final approval
today in the Legislature. State lawmakers
adjourned late Thursday after hours of discussion
over the package, which culminated with panels
in the House and Senate approving the cuts. Now,
those cuts are set to go before the full Legislature
today, with votes for approval said to be
guaranteed. And as the party-line debate took
place at the Capitol, school and university officials
in Southern Arizona measured the midyear
impacts of losing what amount to tens of millions
of dollars in state funds.

As UA moves to remove Sig Ep, fraternity appeals
Arizona Daily Star 1/30/09
University of Arizona officials are in the process
of removing a fraternity from campus after a
purported hazing incident last fall. Officials
notified the UA chapter of Sigma Phi Epsilon
late last semester that that they intended to
withdraw the university's recognition of the
fraternity and suspend it for five years after
a hazing violation was reported, said Carol
Thompson, UA dean of students. The reported
hazing took place during the fall semester,
though Thompson wouldn't provide any other
details of the incident because the fraternity,
known informally as Sig Ep, is appealing the
decision. Neither the fraternity's president nor
its adviser would comment.

Denogean: Arizonans upset over budget cuts
shouldn't be labeled whine- makers
Tucson Citizen 1/30/09
Former Texas Sen. Phil Gramm infamously called
Americans a "nation of whiners" during last year's
presidential campaign when he served as senior
economic adviser to Sen. John McCain. It would
seem that state Sen. Russell Pearce, R-Mesa,
shares the same lofty opinion of Arizonans - at
least those who don't want legislators to eviscerate
social services, public education and universities
in the name of balancing the budget. Earlier this
week, the Arizona Republic quoted Pearce, chair-
man of the Senate Appropriations Committee, as
saying he would try to accommodate the public's
desire to have its say, but we "don't want to have
300 people sign up to whine." Pearce didn't return
a call from me this week. But he repeated the
sentiment to an interviewer from arizonaguardian.
com, saying, "We are not going to have a forum
just for Dr. Crow (ASU president Michael Crow)
to send everybody on his staff down here to whine.
I'm not going to do it. And I stand by it."

Proposed cut less severe but still painful to UA,
officials say
Tucson Citizen 1/30/09
Arizona lawmakers are expected to approve a plan
to erase the state's budget deficit that includes $142
million in cuts to the state's universities, days after
university leaders asked for no more than a $100
million reduction. Arizona is $1.6 billion in the red.
Sen. Jonathan Paton, R-Tucson, said the plan
would be voted on no later than Friday and that the
Republican majority had enough votes to pass it.
University of Arizona President Robert N. Shelton
said the Republican leaders' proposed reduction
would likely result in about a $58 million cut to UA
before the 2009 fiscal year ends June 30.

Public can scope out UA mirror lab
Tucson Citizen 1/30/09
Dan Pittenger long yearned to take a tour of the
University of Arizona Steward Observatory Mirror
Lab. He finally got his chance Tuesday. Pittenger
was among a dozen people who paid $15 to
learn what happens behind the scenes at, the
only lab in the world where large-format honey-
combed glass telescope mirrors are spin-cast,
polished and prepared to explore the extreme
depths of the night sky. "This is the first time we
are making the mirror lab available to the public
on a regular basis," said Cathi Duncan, program
coordinator at Steward Observatory, who
organizes and schedules the tours.

Cardinal responsible for Vatican City to visit
observatory at UA next month
Tucson Citizen 1/29/09
The pope has never visited the University of Arizona,
but the mayor of his city-state will do so in late
February. Cardinal Giovanni Lajolo, the president of
the Pontifical Commission for the Vatican City State,
will visit the offices of the Vatican Observatory
Research Group at UA's Steward Observatory on Feb.
26. Lajolo is the executive in charge of the day-to-day
running of Vatican City and responsible for reporting
to Pope Benedict XVI about the Vatican Observatory
research. Vatican astronomers at UA announced
Lajolo's visit Wednesday.  The cardinal's visit
coincides with the Vatican-proclaimed International
Year of Astronomy 2009 and "demonstrates his deep
interest and support of the observatory," said William
Stoeger, a Jesuit astronomer with the Vatican
Observatory and a UA adjunct associate professor
of astronomy.

NAU considers unpaid furloughs like ASU's
Yuma Sun 1/29/09  7:48 PM
PHOENIX - Arizona State University is forcing all 12,000
of its workers to take at least 10 days off, without pay,
between now and June 30 to cut expenses. The move,
announced late Wednesday by ASU President Michael
Crow, will cut expenses by $24 million. Crow, who is
included in the mandate, said that will go a long way to
dealing with what could be up to a $60 million midyear
reduction in state funding for his school. Crow, along
with his counterparts at the other two state universities,
got permission to order furloughs Tuesday from the
Arizona Board of Regents.  Meanwhile, Lisa Nelson,
Northern Arizona University director of public affairs,
said that NAU President John Haeger announced that
furloughs are a possibility in Flagstaff as well as Yuma.

Ribbon-cutting launches cutting-edge AWC building
Yuma Sun 1/29/09 7:40 PM
With a nearly imperceptible trim of a scarlet ribbon,
Arizona Western College ushered in a new era as
faculty, students and guests celebrated the official
opening the College Community Center (3C)
Thurs-day. The futuristic building that includes
administrative offices, dining service, financial
aid, student advising, a bookstore and other
facilities is the culmination of a project that started
with the passage of the $74 million bond Yuma
County voters passed in 2004. AWC President Don
Schoening acknowledged that the vote of 70 per-
cent approval show Yuma's overwhelming support
for the college. Schoening noted successful
community colleges are built on the footsteps of
those who came before him.  "We are the best
regional baccalaureate institution in the U.S. with
our partnership with NAU," Schoening said.

Opinion: The absence of a well-tempered legislature
ASU Web Devil 1/30/09
Logic and emotion are completely different, but they
have one thing in common. Each of them affects our
actions in various ways; it can be dangerous to let
either one influence us too much. This all would
seem very prevalent in these tough economic times,
but it seems our state Legislature is solely letting
emotion drive their cause. “Logic is important in the
world, and zealots are emotional. Right now, leading
our Legislature, we have zealots. The logic just
doesn’t  work; they are emotional to their cause,” s
aid Dr. Gary Nine, superintendent of the Florence
Unified School District.

West students propose solution for budget
ASU Web Devil 1/30/09
While a crowd of anxious students protested outside
the capitol, two ASU West students met inside the
building with a state representative to propose their
own ideas on how to solve the state’s budget. Ryan
Caracciolo, president of Associated Students of
ASU’s West Campus, and Andrew Clark, president
of College Republicans on the West campus and
the Associated Students of ASU’s West Campus
director, met with Rep. Rick Murphy, R-9, to share
their conservative proposal to bring fiscal account-
ability back to the budget. Both Caracciolo, a
political science junior, and Clark, a history junior,
said they wanted to meet with the representative
before the rally with a prepared outline of possible
economic solutions to show that ASU students are
willing to do more than just stand outside in the
lawn and protest. “The rally was just for students
trying to be heard, but we are trying to make the
real impact, just a more focused approach,”
Clark said.

News analysis: Budget 101: How did we get here?
UA Daily Wildcat 1/30/09
The University of Arizona is in a state of upheaval.
Students and faculty alike are trying to sort through
the complicated web that has brought the university
to this moment. Before you can know where you
are going, you have to know where you have been.
"Starting this fiscal year we took a $22 million cut,
basically five percent," UA President Robert Shelton
said. "We had been planning all along for another
five percent cut, another 20 million, and we were
prepared to do that based on what we had heard
in the fall and the transformation process." Part of
the reason the burden of balancing the state's bud-
get falls on the universities is because of restrictions
voted on by the general public years ago.

Shelton hopes for Federal trickle down
UA Daily Wildcat 1/30/09
The Arizona Legislature has made "questionably
quick" movements toward approving a Republican
backed plan to solve Arizona's budget deficit.
Following the student protest Wednesday at the
state capitol, The Associated Press reported that
Gov. Jan Brewer called the Arizona Legislature
into special session after Republican legislative
leaders assured her that they had worked out a
plan and had enough votes to get it approved.
The proposed plan calls for large budget cuts
from the university system - $142 million -
which is substantially more than the $100
million proposal from the Arizona Board of
Regents suggested on Jan. 26. UA President
Robert Shelton thought the cut of $100 million
was a logical compromise to the argument of
how to settle the budget; the discussion of even
higher cuts to Arizona's universities has left him
perplexed.

Grad student offers advice on ASU budget crunch
Phoenix Business Journal 1/30/09 8:00am MST
As Arizona’s three state universities face $600
million in budget cuts, an ASU graduate student
thinks he has the answer. “ASU is a monopoly,”
said Sanjeev Ramchandra, who’s in the higher
education program at Arizona State University.
“Why do we only have one public university in
such a large metropolis?” Facing $225 million
in cuts over the next two years, ASU President
Michael Crow has warned that one of his
school’s three Phoenix-area campuses could
be forced to close its doors. Ramchandra has
been trying unsuccessfully to capture the
attention of the Arizona Board of Regents, which
oversees the three state schools. He proposes
a restructuring of the state university system,
adding more colleges to the mix.

Budget compromise better for ASU, but still will
hurt
Phoenix Business Journal 1/29,/09 4:19pm MST
Arizona State University could get by with a budget
proposal circulating through the state Legislature,
but it would be difficult, said ASU President Michael
Crow. Although the potential cut being discussed for
ASU is about $145 million, compared to the $255
million in earlier proposals, Crow said it is more
workable. “They’re still painful, but we’re preparing
to move forward,” he said.

Staff, agencies filling up fast as Brewer settles in
Arizona Capitol Times 1/29/09
The top floors of the Executive Tower and a slew
of state agencies are full of new faces, or at least
familiar faces in new jobs, as Gov. Jan Brewer
deals with the myriad personnel issues that
typically face a newly minted administration.
Decisions about gubernatorial staff and
department heads have occupied much of the
administration's time during its frenzied first
weeks, which saw eight agency directors
submit their resignations as key staff positions
filled up on the eighth and ninth floors….....Liz
Barker-Alvarez, a spokeswoman at DES, said
she does not know if Blessing has had any
discussions with Brewer about the director
position. "She has indicated that she is here
for the interim while the search is on for a new
director," Barker-Alvarez said of Blessing.

State lawmakers ready to push $1.6 B in budget
cuts
abc15.com 1/29 7:57 pm 
Facing unprecedented economic times, Arizona
lawmakers are scrambling to finalize $1.6 billion
dollars in budget cuts. "We're racing against the
clock to stop the spending," said Rep. John
Kavanagh. "If we don't get the cuts in before
February 1, $160 million in potential cuts will
disappear." Gov. Jan Brewer called a special
budget session late Wednesday night for
Republican lawmakers, so the state can beat
the deadline. If the cuts aren't passed, the
state will lose that money, which by law must
be paid out.  "The situation gets worse every
day," said Kavanah, a Fountain Hills lawmaker
who heads the House Appropriations Committee.

Justice Roberts to lecture at Arizona law school
Associated Press/KOLD News 13
1/30/09 11:24 AM ET
TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) - U.S. Supreme Court Chief
Justice John Roberts is scheduled to deliver a
lecture Wednesday at the University of Arizona's
James E. Rogers College of Law. Roberts is the
second Supreme Court justice to visit the
university this school year. Justice Stephen
Breyer gave a series of talks during the fall.
The visits are part of series of lectures put on
by the university's William H. Rehnquist Center
on the Constitutional Structures of Government.

Obama Administration Is Urged to Change
Federal Education Policy
The Chronicle of Higher Education 1/29/09
Washington — If President Obama’s administration
fails to make major changes in federal education
policy, it probably won’t be for lack of ideas from
think tanks based here. He has barely been in the
White House a week, and already four reports
calling for an expanded federal role in education
have been sent his way. The most recent such
report was issued today by the New America
Foundation, which labels itself as ideologically
centrist. Titled “Bridging the Gap: How to
Strengthen the P-16 Pipeline to Improve College
Readiness,” the report concludes that far too
many students leave high school unprepared
for college, and says low college success rates
reflect “a massive failure of the pre-kindergarten
through college system as a whole.”

The $7-Billion Patch for Campus Maintenance
The Chronicle of Higher Education 1/30/09
Now that a multibillion-dollar stimulus bill is
moving through Congress in the latest attempt
to bail out a faltering economy, the lawmakers
and pundits who seemed to be asleep at the
wheel over the past decade are suddenly
gripped by the virtue of fiscal responsibility.
They are criticizing parts of the bill that they
find wasteful. Higher-education administrators
should beware: This newfound righteousness
and ire could soon point their way. A focus might
be the $7-billion that colleges hope to get for
renovation, improvements, and energy-efficiency
projects. That’s a small part of a very big package.
It will create jobs, and it will deal with some of our
fossil-fuel dependence—all good things. But in
some ways, that $7-billion also symbolizes our
national inability to live within our means.

Key Differences On Higher Education Between
The House and Senate Economic-Stimulus Bills
The Chronicle of  Higher Education1/30/09
This article is a chart

Arizona State to Implement Furloughs
U.S. News & World Report 1/29/09 6:33 PM ET
Arizona State University announced university-
wide furloughs Wednesday, some of the longest
to hit academia so far, the State Press reports.
The furloughs—involuntary unpaid leave—must
all be taken before the end of the fiscal year,
June 30, and may force the university to cancel
some classes. University administrators like
deans and the president will be forced to take
15-day furloughs, while all other will be forced
to take 10 to 12 days off.

Michael Crow: No whiners in sight
The Arizona Guardian 1/28/09 22:48
State Senate Appropriations Committee chair-
man Russell Pearce said Monday that he didn't
want to hold public hearings on proposed state
budget cuts because he didn't want ASU
president Michael Crow to bring 300 people to
the Capitol to whine. Mission accomplished.
Crow showed up two days later with about
2,000 students mobilized by Arizona Students'
Association. Crow joined UA president Robert
Shelton, NAU president John Haeger, and the
tri-partisan coalition of Devils, Cats and Jacks
who created their own political forum to discuss
the issue. The student bodies were by far the
largest group of constituents to lobby lawmakers
this year. And Crow was as fired up as he's ever
been since he arrived in Tempe in 2002 with
visions of transforming ASU into what he calls
the "New American University."

Budget bills clear committee; floor action set for
Friday
The Arizona Guardian 1/29/09 15:38
Republicans beat back Democratic amendments
and passed a package of six budget-cutting bills
through the House and Senate appropriations
committees Thursday evening, paving the way
for final passage Friday in both chambers. The
skids appeared to be greased. But Republicans
abandoned talk of working into the wee hours
to finish off the $1.6 billion budget plan and
adjourned before taking the bills to the floor.
The plan is to vote the bills out Friday and get
the package to Gov. Jan Brewer's desk before
she leaves for the Super Bowl in Tampa. "These
are modest cuts," said Senate Appropriations
Committee Chairman Russell Pearce. "Next year
is going to be a lot tougher and these cuts are
going to be deeper."