TO CLIPS INDEX Clips for March 12, 2009

Expect higher student fees if UA 2010 budget
is cut
Tucson Citizen 3/12/09 11:19 am
If the University of Arizona takes another large
budget hit from the state in fiscal 2010, which
begins July 1, students can expect to pay up
to $1,055 annually in specialized fees that UA
President Robert N. Shelton said are
necessary to avoid "permanent damage to
excellent core programs." It is estimated that
the increased fees could raise approximately
$10 million for the university, which Shelton
said is preparing for a cut of $50 million from
the state-funded portion of its budget. The
proposed fees, which were discussed Thurs-
day morning during an Arizona Board of
Regents study session focused on budget
planning for next year, would not come as a
surprise, Shelton said.

Arizona's 3 universities seeking boost in their
dormitory rates
The Arizona Republic 3/12/09
Campus life in Arizona could get even more expensive
next year. After raising 2009-10 tuition by more than 10
percent, the three state universities are asking to in-
crease the cost of living in a dorm room or campus
apartment. They blame the rising cost of security,
utilities, building debt and a financial downturn that
has forced the state Legislature to cut state money that
helps universities pay for faculty and staff. "We do have
to address the budget shortage in different ways, and
we're not trying to take it out on students entirely, but
that does impact us," said Tom Bauer, a Northern
Arizona University spokesman.

Elementary students get look at ASU West campus
The Arizona Republic 3/11/09 1:04 PM
Matt Crum, media relations for Arizona State University's
West campus, submitted this information. It's a relatively
short trip from Mitchell Elementary School to Arizona
State University's West campus, but that distance can
seem insurmountable to some children. The 77 fifth-
graders who participated in a field trip from their school
in the Isaac School District to the ASU campus in north-
west Phoenix learned that college is an achievable goal
for any student willing to work hard. ......The invitation to
visit ASU was extended by Mari Koerner, dean of the
university's College of Teacher Education and Leader-
ship (CTEL). In November, Koerner visited Mitchell
Elementary School as part of the city of Phoenix's 17th
annual Principal for a Day program sponsored by Merrill
Lynch. Because many Mitchell School students are
potentially the first in their family to go to college, Koerner
and Linda Crawford, Mitchell's principal, decided a
campus visit would make the goal of attending a
university more tangible for young students.

Ariz. lawmakers suspend rules for budget changes
Associated Press/The Arizona Republic
3/11/09 4:54 PM
Arizona lawmakers suspended some rules Wednesday
to allow fast consideration of budget changes, including
restoring funding for child care subsidies and trying
again to grab money now allotted to cities and towns.
The House and Senate separately suspended various
scheduling and disclosure rules to set the stage for
consideration of the some 30 budget changes on
Thursday, one day before a deadline set by Gov. Jan
Brewer for action on use of $18.2 million of federal
stimulus money to restore child care subsidies set
to be suspended this week. Most of the other planned
changes to a January budget-balancing law also
involved reversing cuts or transfers ordered to help
erase a big budget shortfall. Those include money for
hospitals, medical education, agriculture inspections
and clean water programs. However, one would
reduce by $17.6 million the annual sharing of state
income tax revenue with municipalities.

Brewer not revealing proposed budget cuts
Capitol Media Services/Arizona Daily Star/
East Valley Tribune
3/11/09 7:45PM
Gov. Jan Brewer is refusing to make public what her
department directors say will be the effect of future
budget cuts, at least for the time being. Brewer last
month directed all agency chiefs to prepare to cut
spending up to another 20 percent on top of the
cuts already made to their budgets. The governor
said at the time the economy is not getting better.
Brewer directed Eileen Klein, her chief budget officer,
to detail which programs or services they would be
most willing to surrender. All that, Klein said, should
be put into priorities involving cuts of 5, 10, 15 and
20 percent to let the governor - and the Legislature
- decide what can be eliminated. Those reports
were due at 5 p.m. Friday.

CGCC opens $4.2 million hangar at Gateway
East Valley Tribune 311/09 2:45PM
Chandler-Gilbert Community College opened a $4.2
million hangar Wednesday at its Phoenix-Mesa Gate-
way Airport campus. The 22,000-square-foot facility
houses offices, learning space and a flight simulator.
It will facilitate a 40 percent increase in the school's
student body. CGCC partners with the University of
North Dakota, which runs a flight training program
at the airport. The building will be home to the
operations of both schools, said Trish Niemann,
CGCC spokeswoman.

Aliens among us? ASU prof aims to find out
East Valley Tribune 3/11/09 6:18PM
Lurking in nuclear waste pools. Breeding in acidic
lakes. Or creeping underground devoid of oxygen
and light. This may sound like a teaser for a
science-fiction movie, but it is the subject of a
scientific paper written by Arizona State University
Professor Paul Davies that is appearing in next
month's Astrobiology journal. In the paper, titled
"Signatures of a Shadow Biosphere," Davies
calls on scientists to broaden their scope when
examining living things. He urges them to go
beyond the methods they usually employ and
be open to the existence of "weird" life or "life
as we don't know it." "In effect, I'm trying to raise
the consciousness of the scientific community
to the possibility that life on Earth may have had
more than one origin," he said. "If 'weird' life is
proven to exist, it would be the biggest thing
since Darwin."

Universities seeking hike in dorm rates
Associated Press/East Valley Tribune
3/12/09 4:33 AM EDT
PHOENIX AP -- After raising 2009-10 tuition
by more than 10 percent, Arizona's three state
universities are asking to increase the cost of
living in a dorm room or campus apartment.
Officials at Arizona State University, the
University of Arizona and Northern Arizona
University blame the rising cost of security,
utilities, building debt and a financial downturn
that has forced the state Legislature to cut state
money that helps universities pay for faculty and
staff. NAU will ask to increase its housing
charges by nearly 12 percent while ASU and
UA want to raise housing rates about 6 to 7
percent. The expected increase must be
approved by the Arizona Board of Regents,
which oversees the universities.

Taking a break from Mexico
Arizona Daily Sun Sun 3/12/09
Instead of Rocky Point, Colorado River beaches
are attracting NAU students, along with mission
trips to Central America. As spring break fast
approaches, NAU students may find themselves
scrambling for alternatives to the traditional
vacation in Mexico. Not only has the grim
economic climate made it more difficult for
students to afford spending a week in a foreign
country, but the drug war in Mexico has been the
cause of warnings from the State Department
and NAU. In an e-mail sent to students, the NAU
Office of Public Affairs "is discouraging travel to
Mexico during spring break," and to "use extreme
caution," if they still decide to go. For NAU
sophomore Natalie Vogan, the bad press
about drug violence along the border was
enough to dissuade her and her friends
from going to Puerto Peñasco, also known
as Rocky Point.

Rio Nuevo waterline cost raises eyebrows
Arizona Daily Star 3/12/09
Tucson, Arizona - Rio Nuevo is paying a Phoenix
contractor $680,000 to replace a waterline Down-
town that Tucson Water estimates will only cost
$250,000 to replace. No additional work was
added to the waterline replacement on South
Scott Avenue, and city officials cannot say why
it would cost Phoenix-based Archer Western
Contractors $430,000 more than Tucson
Water's estimate to replace the line. Fran
LaSala, assistant to City Manager Mike Hein,
said the $680,000 estimate came from Archer
Western, which did "the only true bid from a true
contractor." Hein did not return phone calls for
comment. Archer Western is doing the water-
line replacement as part of a larger street
improvement on Scott, which is part of a
larger series of Downtown improvements.

Ariz. universities seeking hike in dorm rates
The Associated Press/Arizona Daily Star
3/12/09
PHOENIX — After raising 2009-10 tuition by more
than 10 percent, Arizona’s three state universities
are asking to increase the cost of living in a dorm
room or campus apartment. Officials at Arizona
State University, the University of Arizona and
Northern Arizona University blame the rising cost
of security, utilities, building debt and a financial
downturn that has forced the state Legislature to
cut state money that helps universities pay for
faculty and staff. NAU will ask to increase its
housing charges by nearly 12 percent while ASU
and UA want to raise housing rates about 6 to 7
percent. The expected increase must be approved
by the Arizona Board of Regents, which oversees
the universities.

UMC gets latest Safe Baby Program drop-off
Arizona Daily Star 3/12/09
Tucson, Arizona - A healthy newborn girl was dropped
off at University Medical Center over the weekend
under provisions of a law that allows her parents to
avoid criminal prosecution. Hospital officials say she
is the seventh baby who has been left at UMC since
the state passed a safe haven law in 2001. State
officials say they've had reports of 16 newborns
dropped off at locations in Arizona since the law
passed. The latest drop-off occurred less than a
month after a University of Arizona student gave
birth in her dormitory and was then arrested and
charged with trying to kill her child.

UA student's death still a mystery after autopsy
Tucson Citizen 3/12/09
The death of a University of Arizona student at a
UA fraternity house Friday remains a mystery as
investigators wait for microscopic tissue analysis
and toxicology tests, the county's medical
examiner said. Initial autopsy procedures done
Saturday on Andrew J. Segal failed to show a
cause or manner of death, said Pima County
Medical Examiner Bruce O. Parks. There was
no sign of a gunshot, a stabbing or a slashing
wound and no sign of blunt force trauma from
a serious beating, Parks said. Segal's death
"is not being investigated as a homicide that
I know of," Parks said.

Burns: Property tax repeal OK'd by Brewer
as part of balanced '10 budget
azcapitoltimes.com 3/11/09
Senate President Bob Burns is no longer considering
packaging a permanent repeal of the state's
equalization property tax with a bill that would approve
millions in funding to help the state qualify for a federal
child care subsidy. Gov. Jan Brewer, meanwhile, has
said she would be willing to approve the property tax
repeal if it was part of a balanced 2010 budget, Burns
said. Following a March 4 speech in which Brewer
asked the Legislature to approve about $20 million
for the child care program, Burns said he was working
on a bill that would include both the child care subsidy
and a permanent repeal of the property tax, which has
been suspended since 2006. Brewer had asked the
Legislature not to send her any non-budget bills until
a 2010 budget deal was reached, but her call, in that
same speech, for a temporary tax increase prompted
some Republican lawmakers to push for swift action
on the property tax repeal.

Legislature to restore funding to '09 budget today
azcapitoltimes.com 3/12/09
State lawmakers have worked out a deal to restore
funding for a child care program at the behest of the
governor and to reverse a slew of fund sweeps that
were enacted earlier this year when the Legislature
revised the fiscal 2009 budget. On March 11, the
House and Senate paved the way for their budget
committees to hear strike-everything amendments
that would restore a $40 million cut to health care
programs as part of an earlier round of budget
revisions and allow the state to qualify for federal
stimulus money for child care programs and health
care in rural areas. The legislation includes a
provision to repeal a nearly $30 million payment
to the state from Arizona cities and counties that
was ruled unconstitutional last month by the state
Supreme Court.

ASU scores among top 25 for Hispanic education
abc15.com 3/11/09 6:21 pm
TEMPE - Arizona State University was ranked in the
top 25 in the latest edition of "The Condition of
Latinos in Education: Fact Book 2008" by Excelencia
in Education. According to a news release from the
University, ASU was ranked number 24 among the
top 25 colleges and universities enrolling Latinos
during the 2006-07 academic year. The university
also came in at number 24 for the top 25 institutions
awarding bachelor's degrees to Latinos. In
engineering, ASU was ranked 17th for the top
25 institutions awarding engineering bachelor's
degrees to Latinos. ASU is among universities
with the highest numbers of National Hispanic
Scholars in the country. In 2008, there were 324
National Hispanic Scholars enrolled at ASU, says
Anita Verdugo Tarango, University Student Initiatives
director.

UA fees increase; possible programs cuts
KVOA News 4 3/12/09
It's another big week for the Arizona Board of Regents
as they discuss and vote on some hot topics. Wednes-
day, UA administrators had a committee meeting with
the board to talk about adding, removing and merging
programs. The University hopes to add 10 programs,
get rid of 26 programs and merge eight. Although
they're small in size, it's a big deal to some faculty
and students. "It's really bothering me that although
my tuition is significantly raising, they're downsizing
all the departments," said Yael Farah, a student
majoring in animal sciences. "It's kind of ridiculous
that they have to cut that much," said Dana Knudsen,
another student. But this week, restructuring is only
up for discussion; an increase in residence hall rates
is the topic that's up for a vote. Although the increase
has nothing to do with the budget crisis, it's yet
another downer. "That's why I'm kind of moving off
campus next year cause it's actually cheaper for
the apartments," said Yadira Caballero, majoring
in finance.

Public Radio Holds Steady Course
The Arizona Daily Sun/nab365News – Radio
3/12/09
KNAU, the public radio station for most of northern
Arizona, has not had to deal with the ebb and flow
of advertising revenue in the recession or a fickle
radio audience tuning out local news for the right
song. Instead, as the local conduit for National
Public Radio programming, it has had a strong
following from Page to Prescott and Kingman to
Show Low. It has also relied heavily on strong
financial backing from Northern Arizona University,
underwriting campaigns and pledges from its
listeners. John Stark, general manager at KNAU
since 1993, said strong finances in years past
have allowed KNAU to pursue regional news
stories as well as provide hours of NPR
programming. "Our audience is 55,000-plus
listeners -- we are the most listened-to radio
station in Flagstaff," he said. He said KNAU's
mandate is to enrich the lives of the public
through in-depth public service reporting.
"You learn a lot by listening to KNAU on a
daily basis," Stark said

Supporters, lobbyists stand up to legislature
jackcentral.com 3/12/09
As a joint collaboration between grades K through
20, thousands of teachers, students, family
members and supporters of Arizona’s education
system gathered in front of the capitol building on
March 4 to protest for students’ rights to affordable
education. Student lobbyists from Arizona’s three
major universities met with lawmakers in the
morning to discuss the future of the state’s
education and fight against future budget cuts,
which are proposed at $308 million for fiscal year
2010. Last fiscal year’s cuts to education exceeded
$140 million. “I don’t think the universities can
afford anymore cuts; we’re already stretched thin,”
said Michael Slugocki, a board chairman for Arizona
Students’ Association. “We’ve cut the skin, we’ve
cut the muscle, and we’re digging into the bone
now.”

Nursing to levy $2000 fee
UA Daily Wildcat 3/12/09
The fate of a $1,000 per semester program fee
for the College of Nursing will be decided today
at the Arizona Board of Regents meeting in
Phoenix. If the ABOR approves the proposal,
nursing students will be looking at an extra
$2,000 a year in fees, tacked on to an already
increased tuition. Megan Befort, a third year
nursing student, said she recalled attending
a meeting where the program fee was originally
announced to students. She said the amount
proposed came as a shock to many nursing
students. "(Spending) $2,000 (a year) does
not sound like a whole lot of money to the
people who are running the nursing school,
but to the college student who is gathering up
debt it's ridiculous," Befort said. "Especially for
a school that has never had a program fee for
undergraduate students."

New dean brings hope to nursing
UA Daily Wildcat 3/12/09
Joan Shaver, the newly-appointed dean of the
University of Arizona College of Nursing sees
a bright future despite recent drastic budget
cuts. While many are worried the university
will crumble with such limited funding,
Shaver said she sees a firm foundation with
the ability to strengthen and enhance the
already-reputable College of Nursing. "I think
she will provide strong leadership in every
aspect," said Phil Malan, vice dean for
academic affairs for the College of Medicine.
"When she became dean in Illinois, it rose to
the No. 3 research ranking university in the
country." Dealing with budget cuts is nothing
new to Shaver. As dean at the University of
Illinois at Chicago, she said she experienced
drops in state appropriations to higher
education for almost seven years.