TO CLIPS INDEX - Clips for March 28, 2008

Economic plan: Fix up colleges
The Arizona Republic - March 28, 2008 12:00 AM
Universities to pitch $1.4 billion project to state
Arizona's three state universities are pitching a $1.4 billion campus construction plan that they say
would jump-start the state's flagging economy while fixing up dozens of old buildings and erecting
new ones to handle future student growth. Declaring that Arizona's economy is in serious trouble
and cannot diversify beyond construction in time to avoid a severe recession, university officials
propose that the state commit up to about $81 million a year for 25 years to cover bond financing,
including interest, for the campus upgrades. The universities would cover up to an additional $21
million a year.

ASU leaders, tenants celebrate SkySong's partnerships
The Arizona Republic - March 28, 2008 12:00 AM
Highlighting its progress with local companies and international connections, SkySong and Arizona
State University officials said Thursday that the high-tech project continues to sign tenants and is
sealing partnerships with universities in Ireland, Mexico and Finland. They made the announcements
to some 200 business, university and community leaders at a grand opening of SkySong, the ASU
Scottsdale Innovation Center, on the site of a former shopping center in south Scottsdale. Students
and entrepreneurs from 11 countries, including the U.S., carried in flags representing the international
range of involvement in SkySong, southeast of McDowell and Scottsdale roads, about 2 miles north of
ASU's main campus in Tempe.

MBA program at ASU moves up top-schools list
The Arizona Republic - March 28, 2008 12:00 AM
Arizona State University's W. P. Carey MBA program has jumped a number of spots in U.S. News &
World Report's latest ranking of top MBA programs in the U.S. Its program ranked 22 nationally and
eighth among public universities. Last year, it ranked 41st. The 2009 rank makes it one of only five
schools in the West in the top 25. The others are Stanford University, University of California-Berkeley,
UCLA, and the University of Southern California

Southeast Editorials Blog: Cities' role crucial to better education
The Arizona Republic - March 27, 2008 - 11:10PM
Education is deeply tied to our pocketbooks and our quality of life. When residents pay taxes, the
majority of the bill goes to schools. When a local school struggles with student achievement and
enrollment, the surrounding neighborhood feels the decline. When high-paying companies look
to locate in a community, good schools are usually high on their priority list. If education plays a
significant role in whether cities falter or prosper, why are elected leaders generally hands-off
when it comes to the issues facing schools?

More international firms sign up at SkySong
East Valley Tribune - March 27, 2008 - 11:10PM
Nine more high technology organizations, including major firms from the United Kingdom, Singapore,
 China and Israel and universities from Ireland and Mexico, have signed partnership agreements with
SkySong and Arizona State University. The latest pacts, announced during an official SkySong grand
opening Thursday by ASU President Michael Crow, bring the total number of SkySong partnerships to
29 companies and five universities from 11 countries.

Students support curbs on campus credit-card pitches
Arizona Daily Star - March 28, 2008
Credit-card marketing on college campuses is out of control, and four in five students support regulations
that would end free gifts for signing up and require companies to offer fair terms, a consumer group said
in a new report. A nationwide survey of college students conducted by the U.S. Public Interest Research
Group Education Fund found that 76 percent of students have considered credit offers from on-campus
tables offering free gifts ranging from T-shirts and food to iPods. Of the 66 percent of students who have
at least one credit card, 36 pay their balance every month, 34 percent carry a balance, and 30 percent
report their parents pay the credit-card bill.

Opinions: Breaking the mold
ASU Web Devil - March 27, 2008
If you pull a slice of bread out of a bag and it happens to have green and brown spots of disgustingness
all over it, you typically have three options. First, you can make a sandwich. This is not advisable. Second,
you can feed the ducks. This is slightly more advisable. And third, you can throw that nasty junk in the
nearest trash receptacle. This is obviously the best choice. So then why was the third option not in ASU
Residential Life's playbook when it learned Best Hall C had transformed into that metaphorical piece of
moldy bread?

Group, legislator target credit card providers
ASU Web Devil - March 28, 2008
The too-good-to-be-true offers students get from credit card companies probably are just that, warned
one state advocacy Thursday. Arizona Public Interest Research Group, or PIRG, stressed the importance
of credit card education at both a news conference at the State Capitol in Phoenix in the morning and a
table in the front of the Memorial Union in the afternoon. Credit card vendors continue to lure students
into opening credit card accounts in exchange for free gifts, which could bring students a substantial
amount of debt, said Rep. Ed Ableser, D-Tempe. Ableser is a sponsor for House Bill 2518, currently
under review in House, which calls for the prohibition of credit card marketers offering gifts to people
on campus in exchange for credit applications.

Teacher loan program in limbo
ASU Web Devil - March 28, 2008
A new scholarship aimed at providing an infusion of teachers into Arizona's understaffed education
system may already be in jeopardy, University officials said. The Arizona Board of Regents, the
governing body for the state's universities, formed the Math, Science and Special Education Loan
Forgiveness Program at the bequest of the state legislature in January. The program compensates
education students going into math, science or special education fields for up to five years worth
of loans, covering the cost of in-state tuition, mandatory fees and instructional materials.

Cost to double fee? One dollar
ASU Web Devil - March 28, 2008
Arizona Students' Association seeks to raise fee for lobbying, voter efforts
A buck could add up to thousands of dollars if students let the Arizona Students' Association tag an
extra $1 onto their tuition bills. The organization's budget would double in the fall if voters approved
a ballot measure raising the ASA fee from $1 to $2 in the student government election held at ASU's
Tempe campus March 31 and April 1. Students at UA and NAU already approved the measure in
their student government elections, as did students at ASU's West campus on March 26, said ASA
Board Chair Lindsay Bayuk.

Students want fair credit
UA Daily Wildcat Online - March 28, 2008
Survey illuminates pitfalls of card marketing techniques
With the cost of tuition and living expenses on the rise, the temptation for students to abuse credit
cards is higher than ever. A new survey suggests that students across the nation want credit card
companies to amend their marketing practices on college campuses. According to the results of a
survey involving over 1,500 students at 40 colleges across the nation, most students said they
support the idea that credit card companies should be forced to practice fair marketing principles
when advertising to students on college campuses.

SkySong Arizona State University Scottsdale Innovation Center celebrates first building opening
Phoenix Business Journal - March 27, 2008 - 12:25 PM MST
Mika Laitinen and project manager Sanna Kirjavainen are in the midst of a U.S. business trip that will
take them to San Antonio, New York, Boston, Madison, Wisc., and Seattle. The business partners are
researching a U.S. headquarters for their Jyvaskyla, Finland, instrument technology development
company Magnasense Ltd. Thursday, they are talking to Phoenix business, political and educational
leaders at the newly launched SkySong -- the Arizona State University Scottsdale Innovation Center, a
global business and innovation hub.

Proposed $1.4 billion Arizona bond package expected to generate 32,000 jobs
Phoenix Business Journal - March 28, 2008
A group of local business leaders and university officials are proposing a $1.4 billion capital stimulus
package to boost the construction industry and benefit Arizona's three state universities. The bond
money is expected to generate 32,000 jobs and provide additional revenue from sales and other
income taxes. "This is Arizona's version of the federal fiscal stimulus package," said Ed Zito, executive
vice president of Alliance Bank of Arizona. "This is a bipartisan plan to accelerate investment that will
be targeted at diversifying our economy, but at the same time providing an immediate stimulus to the
construction industry, which clearly has been decimated by the real estate downturn."