TO CLIPS INDEX Clips for March 4, 2009

W. Valley residents have chance to grill ASU's Crow
The Arizona Republic 3/4/09 8:39 AM
West Valley residents will have their chance to ask
Arizona State University President Michael Crow
about changes proposed for the ASU West
campus Wednesday evening. Crow will sit down for
a conversation with Michael Ryan, general manager
of The Arizona Republic's community editions, in
LaSala Room "A" in the University Center of the
campus at 48th Avenue and Thunderbird Road. The
program, which is free and open to the public, begins
at 7 p.m. Crow will take written questions from the
audience. His appearance is timely, coming after
weeks of criticism from West Valley leaders that he
has unfairly targeted ASU West while making drastic
budget cuts demanded by state legislators. The
university has had to trim $88 million worth of
expenses.

Bill pushes change in initiative process
The Arizona Republic 3/4/09
State lawmakers voted Tuesday to ban petition
circulators for initiatives and referendums from
being paid based upon the number of signatures
they collect. The proposal, House Bill 2587,
cleared the House Government Committee on
an 8-0 vote. It comes following an election cycle
in which three high-profile initiatives were deemed
ineligible for the state ballot because they hadn't
submitted enough valid signatures. The failure of
the initiatives - which would have increased taxes
for transportation projects, reformed the state trust-
land system and barred affirmative action in public
employment, education and contracts - sent shock-
waves through the Arizona political community. For
some initiatives, nearly one in every two signatures
submitted for review was found to be invalid.
Petition circulators themselves, often paid on a per
-signature basis, were fingered as a prime culprit for
the debacle. The Secretary of State's Office, led at the
time by Jan Brewer, who has since become governor,
claimed that some of the petitions it reviewed were
"showered with forgery and fraud."

Opinion: Joanna Condé and Nelda Crowell:
W. Valley depends on ASU campus in region
The Arizona Republic 3/2/09
Editor's note: The Arizona Republic, in conjunction
with Westmarc, will host a public forum on the future
of Arizona State University's West campus at 7 p.m.
on March 4 in the LaSala A at ASU West, near the
southeastern corner of 48th Avenue and Thunderbird
Road. The Glendale Branch of the American
Association of University Women strongly supports
both the undergraduate and graduate schools of ASU
West. One of the hallmarks of a vibrant and diversified
economy is a quality educational system starting with
early education and continuing through graduate
school. High quality and available educational
opportunities attract quality businesses. Quality
businesses provide quality employment opportunities.
Therefore, it is wise to invest in education for the long-
term benefits of a healthy business community and
healthy economy.

Sen. Linda Gray: ASU West campus must provide
complete programs
The Arizona Republic 3/2/09 2:52 PM
Editor's note: The Arizona Republic, in conjunction
with Westmarc, will host a public forum on the future
of Arizona State University's West campus at 7 p.m.
on March 4 in the LaSala A at ASU West, near the
southeastern corner of 48th Avenue and Thunderbird
Road. In a Feb. 10 press release, ASU
President Michael Crow clamored that any additional
cuts in the fiscal 2010 budget would force the
university to close the Polytechnic and West campuses
entirely. Despite President Crow's plan of “one university
in many places,” this press release ostensibly served
as notice that the parent (Crow) would withhold child
support to its western child, as his true love was for the
Tempe and downtown siblings. I deemed it time to call
a meeting of the West Valley stepchildren. I invited ASU
West Dean Elizabeth Langland, the governor's office,
Senate President Bob Burns, Sen. John Nelson, Jack
Lunsford of the Westmarc business coalition, Ernest
Calderon of the Board of Regents and Glendale Mayor
Elaine Scruggs to attend this coalition meeting in how
to preserve the West campus degree programs.

Editorial: What Gov. Brewer should address today
East Valley Tribune 3/3/09 8:07PM
New Gov. Jan Brewer makes her first formal speech
to the Arizona Legislature today, and speculation has
been rampant on what she might say about her own
plans to address the state’s economic meltdown and
budget shortfalls. Everyone knows that Brewer is
going to sound klaxons of alarms related to a projected
spending deficit of more than $2.4 billion for the fiscal
year that starts July 1. But will Brewer drag out the
trumpets of doom as well to justify possible calls for
sweeping budget reforms or tax increases — and a
rare statewide election this spring or summer to get
voter support?

Lawmakers await Brewer's budget details today
Capitol Media Services/East Valley Tribune
3/3/09 6:43PM
For more than a month, Jan Brewer has been insisting
that "everything is on the table" as the state figures out
how to balance the budget. Today she gets to describe
exactly what is on the menu - and what is not. Brewer
essentially was a passive participant as lawmakers
plugged a $1.6 billion deficit in January. She provided
little input into the plan, which included $580 million in
spending cuts, only weighing in right at the end with a
list of nearly $18.4 million in programs she wants
funded - programs that the plan crafted by Republican
leadership had cut. He said that, to date, Brewer has
provided only a "very general block diagram" of how
she sees the problem.

Lawmakers vote to change initiative process
Associated Press/East Valley Tribune
3/4/09 9:43 AM EST
PHOENIX -- The practice of paying petition circulators
in Arizona on a per-name basis may come to an end
soon. Lawmakers voted Tuesday on a bill that would
remove the financial motivation for signature gatherers
to cheat. The proposal, HB2587, passed the House
Government Committee on an 8-0 vote. It heads next
to the House Judiciary Committee. "All indications are
that pay-per-signature leads to fraud," said Rep. Phil
Lopes, D-Tucson, the bill's sponsor. The bill was
drafted after three high-profile initiatives failed to reach
the ballot in 2008 because backers hadn't submitted
enough valid signatures. The failed initiatives would
have increased taxes for transportation projects,
reformed the state trust-land system and barred
affirmative action in public employment, education,
and contracts.

Editorial: Brewer must show acumen, leadership today
Arizona Daily Star 3/4/09
Tucson, Arizona - Our view: Governor has been quiet since
taking office; speech is time to shine . We are eager to
hear what Gov. Jan Brewer will bring to a special joint
legislative session at 4 p.m. today. Since taking office in
January, the Republican governor has chosen to work
quietly. Her address today should be Brewer's time to
step out from behind the clangorous Legislature, from
behind the legacy of her Democratic predecessor,
Janet Napolitano, and to present herself as a governor
who has substantive ideas and who will be a leader.
Arizona needs balanced, thoughtful, strong leadership
more than ever.

Alliance is uneasy as Brewer, GOP face budget
Arizona Daily Star 3/4/09
PHOENIX — Her fellow Republicans control the
Legislature, but when Gov. Jan Brewer addresses
a joint session this afternoon, she'll face a chamber
full of raised eyebrows. In her first major speech
since taking office in January, Brewer is expected
to provide specifics on how to right Arizona's ailing
economy and shrink a growing state budget short-
fall. So far, she's been unwilling to rule out the
concept of asking voters to raise the state sales
tax, making legislative conservatives increasingly
antsy. "All options are on the table" has been the
Brewer company line. Brewer's silence has law-
makers eager to hear specifics — but with many
Republicans stewing about the possibility of
Brewer using the t-word today.

UA prof new law school dean at NM university
Associated Press/East Valley Tribune/
Arizona Daily Star 3/4/09 9:48 AM EST
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- A law professor at the
University of Arizona has been selected as the
new dean at the University of New Mexico's law
school. Kevin Washburn, a member of the
Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma, is the first
American Indian to serve as dean of UNM's law
school. He was chosen after a national search.
Washburn started his legal education at UNM
at the American Indian Law Center's summer
program. He earned his law degree from Yale
and went on to serve as a federal prosecutor
in New Mexico and teach at Harvard, the
University of Minnesota and at Arizona's law
school.

NCAA formally investigates Cats' program
East Valley Tribune/Arizona Daily Star 3/4/09
The NCAA has launched a full-scale investigation
into the Arizona men's basketball program,
according to a notice of inquiry sent to University
of Arizona President Robert Shelton. The
allegations stem from initially self-reported
violations involving an elite recruiting event at
McKale Center known as the Cactus Classic.
The NCAA letter, dated Feb. 6, was given to the
Star on Tuesday through a public records request
filed in January. The NCAA could expand its
investigation if it obtains new information while
inspecting the program, the letter stated. Penalties
for violations could include a loss of scholarships
and/or recruiting visits. The NCAA began initially
looking into the matter last year after the UA
reported a secondary violation, a minimal NCAA
infraction.

Bill seeks disclosure online of where state
dollars go
Arizona Daily Star 3/4/09
PHOENIX — Responding to questions over public
access to costs associated with Tucson's Rio
Nuevo project, a House committee made the first
step Tuesday toward requiring local governments
to report online how they spend state dollars. On
a party line vote, the House Government Committee
passed HB 2615. The bill still needs to pass the full
House and the Senate before going to the governor.
"It shouldn't take a public-records request to get
simple information that the public should be able
to find," said Jonathan Paton, R-Tucson, who is
sponsoring an identical measure in the Senate
and testified before the committee.

Editorial: Our Opinion: State's grab of open-space
funds violates constitution
Tucson Citizen 3/4/09
The Arizona Legislature won't let a trifling thing like
the state constitution stand in the way of its efforts
to patch budget holes. The Arizona House has
given preliminary approval to steal-from-Peter-to-
pay-Paul legislation that would take money from
a constitutionally protected open-space fund to
help keep state parks open. It is a shrewd move
that has divided environmentalists who have been
critical of the Legislature's attacks on state parks.
But it clearly runs counter to the constitution - a far
bigger obstacle.

Gimino: Slimmer version, but Lute's still Lute
Tucson Citizen 3/4/09
Lute Olson arrives, on time at a midtown restaurant
for lunch, after getting his still-perfect white hair cut
at his usual place. While he is getting a trim, interim
Arizona basketball coach Russ Pennell is on the
radio, occupying the spot Olson held for 24 years on
the weekly coaches show. If that still feels a little
strange to you, it does to Olson, too. Hard to imagine
the moment in late October, less than two weeks into
preseason practice, when doctors gave him the news:
That thing you did for 49 years of your life - forget about
it. "The doctors told me there was a problem," Olson
said Tuesday, giving the Citizen his first extended inter-
view since his abrupt retirement Oct. 23. "I started
practice with the idea that there was no question
that I'd be back, and then they said, 'You're going to kill
yourself if you do it.' " At 74, having gone through some
heart problems, a small stroke that affected the frontal
part of his brain and suffering at least one bout of
depression, Lute isn't the same vibrant Lute you'll see
in a video tribute at halftime of Thursday's home game
against California.

Navarrette: Entitled wave leaves youths high and dry
Tucson Citizen 3/4/09
One of the great long-term threats to the security and
prosperity of the United States is a growing sense of
entitlement. I don't mean those costly federal programs
- from farm subsidies to Social Security - to which
many Americans feel they have an absolute right. I'm
talking about the sense of entitlement that many of us
have unknowingly instilled in our children, the
consequences of that kind of thinking, and the threat
it poses to the ability of our population to be productive
and globally competitive in the years to come. Consider
a recent article in The New York Times about what
many college students expect from the grading process.

Lute: Next coach will want more than $1.4M
Tucson Citizen 3/4/09
For 24 seasons, Lute Olson found success on the
basketball court, taking Arizona from a 4-24 season
the year before his arrival to a 1997 national title.
Now, the Hall of Fame coach hopes to continue UA's
legacy in whatever way he can. School president
Robert N. Shelton has asked for Olson's insight on
hiring the next coach when a final list is compiled,
Olson told the Tucson Citizen on Tuesday in his first
sit-down interview since he retired in late October
following a small stroke and other medical problems.
Olson, who will be honored at halftime of Thursday's
8:30 p.m. game against California at McKale Center,
said he doesn't know how much input he will have
but he knows what it will take for UA's success to
continue.

Brewer to address Arizona Legislature on budget
woes
The Associated Press/Yuma Sun/Tucson Citizen
3/4/09
PHOENIX — Gov. Jan Brewer will talk about the state's
budget crisis when she addresses the Arizona
Legislature in the House chamber Wednesday after-
noon. Brewer requested the opportunity to make the
address to a joint session of the House and Senate.
She'll be making her speech amid expectations that
she wants to ask voters to approve a temporary sales
tax increase to help keep the state in the black.

Rottweiler named new president of Cochise
College
Herald/Review 3/3/09 3:16:34 am MST
SIERRA VISTA — The Cochise College Governing
Board vote was quick and unanimous. James Dale
“J.D.” Rottweiler is the right fit as president for
Cochise College, board members said Monday
night. Immediately after the vote, the board tried to
call Rottweiler at home, but he wasn’t there. He was
still working at Central Wyoming College, where he
serves as the executive vice president for academic
services and professor of sociology. “That’s what I
like to hear,” board chairwoman Jan Guy quipped
when she learned he was putting in some long
hours. James Dale “J.D.” Rottweiler is the right fit
as president for Cochise College, board members
said Monday night. Once they reached Rottweiler
by phone, Guy announced their decision. Rottweiler
accepted. “I’m appreciative of the board and their
confidence in me. I will work hard, and I will not let
you down,” he said through the speaker-phone.

UA basketball program under investigation
KVOA News 4 3/4/09
TUCSON, Ariz. -- According to a letter sent to the
President of the University of Arizona, the school's
basketball program is under investigation by the
governing NCAA for alleged recruiting violations.
The Arizona Daily Star reports on its Web site the
allegations stem from initially self-reported
violations involving an elite recruiting event at
McKale Center known as the Cactus Classic.
The letter was obtained through a public records
request.

Future-thinking research relates student motivation
ASU Web Devil 3/4/09
Some students complain about taking classes
that don’t apply to their major and don’t see the
connection to how these courses may help in their
future. Accordingly, an ASU professor is studying
how students make the connection between current
coursework and future career goals based on their
level of motivation. Jenefer Husman, an associate
professor for the Division of Psychology in Education
at the Mary Lou Fulton College of Education, is the
primary investigator for the research project on
future thinking and how it affects motivation in
college students. “We are looking at how [students’]
attitudes, motivations and thoughts about future
time are constants in their academic studies,”
she said. Husman said her study focuses on UNI
students — or students exploring careers in math
and science — taking a geology class who are
non-science majors and engineering students.
The current project started in fall 2006 and is
funded by the National Science Foundation for
five years, Husman said.

Center researches global-peace issues
ASU Web Devil 3/4/09
Striving for world peace may not be a novel idea,
but a new research venture at ASU will explore
how collaboration and technological integration
can spark global discourse on the issue. The
Center for the Study of Religion and Conflict is
planning an in-depth worldwide study to identify
areas where peace and counter-extremism
succeed despite a strong presence of extremist
groups. “The problems are too big and too
isolated for one little group of scholars and one
little department to look at,” said Carolyn Forbes,
assistant director of the center. As a result, the
project incorporates experts from religious and
global studies, anthropology, social sciences,
engineering and computer sciences.

K-12 teachers become Martian explorers at ASU
ASU News 3/3/09
About 100 science teachers from Arizona and other
states recently went to Mars vicariously and learned
how to take their classrooms with them on future
trips. The teachers, whose classes range from
kindergarten through grade 12, attended
“Investigating Mars: Unlocking Mysteries of the Red
Planet," a conference and workshop organized by
Arizona State University’s Mars Education Program.
The all-day, Saturday conference was held Feb. 28
at ASU’s Tempe campus. The conference gave the
teachers photos, lab exercises, and activities
relating to Mars exploration that could be used in
their classes. The Mars Education Program
developed the materials, which are aligned with
national science-teaching standards, to excite
students' imaginations while developing their
abilities in science, math, technology and
engineering.

Impact specialist to receive Shoemaker Memorial
Award at Arizona State
ASU News 3/3/09
TEMPE, Ariz. – University of Arizona's planetary
scientist and impact specialist H. Jay Melosh is
this year's recipient of the Eugene Shoemaker
Memorial Award presented by the BEYOND
Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science
at Arizona State University. As part of the honor,
Melosh will deliver the annual Shoemaker
Memorial lecture at 7:30 p.m. March 4 at ASU.
The title of his talk is "Our Catastrophic Solar
System: Impacts and the Latest Revolution in
Earth Science." "From the impact-scarred faces
of the moon and Mars, to the death of the
dinosaurs, impacts have set the course of
planetary evolution," says Melosh. "We now
believe that the moon itself was born in a
planetary scale impact between the Earth
and a Mars-size proto-planet about 4.5 billion
years ago." Melosh, a Regents' Professor of
Planetary Science at UA's Lunar and Planetary
Lab, is a science team member of NASA's deep
impact mission that successfully cratered comet
Tempel 1 on July 4, 2005

Opinion: UA should raise its admittance
standards
UA Daily Wildcat 3/4/09
We've been hearing about the seemingly apocalyptic
economic recession for many months now. Mostly,
we've heard about the bad and the ugly, and admittedly,
there's not much good to embrace. However, the
current economic climate actually presents a unique
opportunity for the UA and state universities across the
country. New York Times columnist Lisa W. Foderaro
writes, "At SUNY New Paltz, as at many other well-
regarded public institutions this spring, admissions
calculations carefully measured over many years are
being set aside as an unraveling economy is making
less expensive state colleges more appealing." Simply
put, high school students across the country are facing
a reality check when it comes to college admissions.
That fat sticker price of a private school education has
become more unaffordable as families cling to their
jobs and homes. More and more, these students are
simply unable to finance a pricey private school
education.

Provost would rename CALA
UA Daily Wildcat 3/4/09
While the UA continues to undergo various changes,
students in the College of Architecture and Landscape
Architecture might have one more matter to become
accustomed to: a name change. At a Dean's forum
Tuesday, College of Architecture and Landscape
Architecture Dean Janice Cervelli announced to
architecture students that the new name of the
college might soon be the College of Sustainable
Design. "We're really trying to focus, I mean like a
laser, on sustainable design," Cervelli said. The
idea for the name change came from Provost
Meredith Hay, Cervelli said. "She highly suggested -
which, when your boss says that to you, you know
that it's serious - that we work the title of sustain-
ability into the college somehow," Cervelli, said

Mars team plays waiting game
UA Daily Wildcat 3/4/09
While patiently awaiting any kind of communication
from the red planet, the UA Mars exploration team
is collecting and sorting data that the Phoenix
Mars Lander retrieved on its mission that ended in
mid-November. The lander touched down on Mars
on May 25, 2008 and operated for 150 days before
it shut down due to a lack of available solar power.
The next step for the team is to hope they can
establish some form of contact with the
lander, after the Martian winter subsides.

Can a Computer Model Prevent a War?
UA News 3/4/09
The U.S. Army has awarded another $2 million to
University of Arizona Professor Jerzy Rozenblit to
fund phase 2 of a project to design intelligent soft-
ware that can analyze the behavior and customs
of political and cultural groups. In 2007, the Army
awarded Rozenblit $2 million to fund the recently
completed phase 1 of the Asymmetric Threat
Response and Analysis Project, known as
ATRAP. Rozenblit holds the Raymond J.
Oglethorpe Endowed Chair in electrical and
computer engineering at the UA, and is head
of that department. In the context of armed
conflict, "asymmetric" describes opposing
forces that differ in terms of size, strength,
resources, tactics, armaments, strategy,
technology or motivation. Forging peace
between such disparate belligerents has
confounded negotiators for centuries.

Funding Science, Smartly
Inside Higher Ed 3/4/09
Rep. John Culberson's Web site shouts that the
country should "just say no to federal spending,"
and the Texas Republican boasted at a House
of Representatives hearing Tuesday that he has
a 100 percent rating from the American
Conservative Union because he consistently
opposes wasteful government spending. But
Culberson makes an exception, he told his
colleagues on the House Appropriations Sub-
committee on Commerce, Justice, Science and
Related, for spending on scientific research and
science education, given the contribution those
things make to the country's economic stability
and national security. "We should find a way to
wall off [the National Science Foundation] and
other agencies in a way that will protect" their
budgets, Culberson said. "We should be looking
for funding that is stable and predictable in the
years to come."

The Billion-Dollar Question: Which Students Benefit?
The Chronicle of Higher Education 3/4/09
The new economic-stimulus law includes more than
$29-billion in provisions directed at making college
more affordable in the next two years. That includes
$13.9-billion budgeted over 10 years for education-tax-
credit changes in 2009 and 2010, $15-billion in
additional Pell Grant support, and $200-million for the
Federal Work-Study program. But what will all that
money actually do for students? Virtually every student
who already receives a Pell Grant will get a larger one
this fall, and more students will be eligible for them.
Additional money for the Federal Work-Study program
will allow more students to participate, and may mean
larger awards for some who already do.

Senator Asks Pfizer About Harvard Payments
The New York Times 3/4/09
Senator Charles E. Grassley on Tuesday asked the
drug maker Pfizer to provide details of its payments
to at least 149 faculty members at Harvard
Medical School. The senator, an Iowa Republican
who is investigating the drug industry’s influence
on the practice of medicine, also asked for any Pfizer
e-mail, faxes, letters or photos regarding Harvard
medical students who have protested drug company
influence. Mr. Grassley, in a letter to Pfizer, wrote that
he was “greatly disturbed” to read an article in The
New York Times on Tuesday describing a Pfizer
representative taking cellphone photographs of
the medical students last October at a campus
demonstration against industry influence. “I find this
troubling as I have documented several instances
where pharmaceutical companies have attempted
to intimidate academic critics of drugs,” he wrote.

Olson offers a lending hand to Arizona in search
for new coach
USA TODAY 3/4/09
For 24 seasons, Lute Olson found success on the
basketball court, taking Arizona from a 4-24 season
the year before his arrival to a 1997 national title.
Now, the Hall of Fame coach hopes to continue UA's
legacy in whatever way he can. School president
Robert N. Shelton has asked for Olson's insight on
hiring the next coach when a final list is compiled,
Olson told the Tucson Citizen on Tuesday in his
first sit-down interview since he retired in late
October following a small stroke and other medical
problems. Olson, who will be honored at halftime
of Thursday's 8:30 p.m. game against California at
McKale Center, said he doesn't know how much
input he will have but he knows what it will take for
UA's success to continue.

Help scientists track plant and animal cycles
LA Times 3/3/09 12:12 PM
As if Californians need another reason to hit the outdoors.
The USA-National Phenology Network (USA-NPN) -- a
University of Arizona, Tucson-based group of scientists
and citizens that monitors the seasonal cycles of plants
and animals -- is calling for volunteers to help track the
effect of climate change on the environment. The group
is launching a national program encouraging citizen
volunteers to observe seasonal changes among plants
and animals, like flowering, migration and egg-laying.
They can then log in and record their observations online
at the USA-NPN website. "The program is designed for
people interested in participating in climate change
science, not just reading about it," said Jake Weltzin,
executive director of the USA-NPN and a scientist at the
U.S. Geological Survey.

Public universities left reeling by recession
Nature News 3/4/09
Tucson, Arizona - Slumping state revenues are
putting US public universities under pressure.
Rex Dalton reports on how one institution is coping.
At the University of Arizona in Tucson, the weekly finance
cabinet meeting now resembles a council of war. Under
the watchful eye of Hopi warriors in a painting, president
Robert Shelton and other top administrators try to plot a
course through financial and political landmines. In
January, the state of Arizona cut $55 million from the
$418 million it had planned to give the university this fiscal
year. That came atop a $20-million cut, out of $438 million,
last July. Even more bad news is expected for the fiscal
year beginning 1 July. It is a dire scene being echoed at
campuses across the United States as public universities
struggle through the annual legislative budget processes
in the worsening economic downturn. Private universities
are facing their own challenges, including plummeting
endowments1 and shrinking philanthropic gifts. The
problem for public universities (see graphic), though, is
especially acute in the sunbelt states such as Arizona,
where the burst of the housing bubble has hit tax revenues
hard and slashed the budgets of universities that, until
recently, had ambitious expansion plans.