TO CLIPS INDEX - Clips for March 29, 30, & 31, 2008

The $600 mil risk
The Arizona Republic - March 31, 2008 12:00 AM
Nothing does more for bipartisanship at the state Legislature than a common foe. And few foes are
more commonly despised around the Legislature - by Republicans and Democrats alike - than the
purse-string-holding bureaucracy that administers the No Child Left Behind education mandates.
But do the federal bureaucrats frustrate Arizona legislators enough that they might forego an annual
pot of $600 million for Arizona school kids? Emphatically, the House of Representatives says, "Yes!"
And, er, "No!"

ASU engineering team takes on a village
The Arizona Republic -March 31, 2008 12:00 AM
Water-supply problems plague tribe
Editor's note: This article was submitted by ASU media relations officers Joe Kullman and Chakris
Kussalanan. Send your education news to lori.baker@arizonarepublic.com. Forty Shuar tribe families
at the edge of an Amazon rain forest in Ecuador stand to see dramatic improvement in their living
conditions through the work of students in Arizona State University's Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering.
Several members of the ASU chapter of Engineers Without Borders spent more than a week this month
in the remote Amazonian village of Tsurakú, bringing tribal leaders designs for solutions to their water
quality, water supply and sanitation problems.

No Child law should be dropped, but testing needs improvement
The Arizona Republic - March 31, 2008 12:00 AM
The Arizona House of Representatives is close to passing a bill to opt out of the federal government's
No Child Left Behind (NCLB). Their reasons are sound, and what happens next is crucial. Perhaps the
greatest flaw in NCLB is that it creates an entirely perverse incentive for states to lower their academic
standards in order to meet a federal goal of 100 percent proficiency by 2014. The law reflects contradictory
urges regarding education policy. On the one hand, some want Congress to act to improve education, and
on the other, some wish to preserve the tradition of state and local control of schools.

Olson: Divorce just part of it
The Arizona Republic - March 31, 2008 12:00 AM
UA coach says 'stress' also prompted leave
Arizona basketball coach Lute Olson told the Tucson Citizen that it was more than his pending divorce
that caused him to take a personal leave last season. Olson, clarifying an interview he gave ESPN.com
Friday, told the Citizen that "stress and anxiety" related to "a combination of things" forced him to take
time off. But Olson would not specify what the "combination of things" were, except to say he feels "great"
now. Two weeks ago, Olson issued a statement admitting he had been out with a "medical condition
that was not life-threatening, but serious enough to require time away from my coaching responsibilities."

A closer look at textbook costs
Arizona Republic - March 29, 2008 12:00 AM
As an Arizona State University professor and textbook author, let me suggest that the story is a bit more
complex than you present in your editorial on the high cost of textbooks ("Cap and gouge," March 21).
Does the annual cost of textbooks ($950) cited in your editorial take into account the resale amount
received by students when they sell their books at the end of each semester, as they often do? Does
the annual cost refer to students who buy only new textbooks not used ones?

Serving coffee and the world at SkySong
East Valley Tribune - March 30, 2008 - 4:19AM
A grant given to three Arizona State University students has led to the creation of the Sky Cafe, which
opened Thursday at Scottsdale's SkySong high-tech incubator. Proceeds from the cafe, on the second
floor of one of SkySong's two current office buildings, will allow residents in communities as close as
Guadalupe and as far away as Tanzania to give back to their communities. According to its Web site at
www.drinkthesky.com, the cafe provides organic and eco-friendly cafe and catering options to SkySong
and ASU with a social focus: 25 percent of the profits from every sale helps bring health care to families
in Arizona and East Africa who can't afford it.

Opinion: NAU building plan too late for stimulus
Arizona Daily Sun - March 30, 2008
If it looks like pork, smells like pork, and waddles like pork, it's probably not really "economic stimulus."
And, so it goes for the recently floated proposal for $300 million in building projects at NAU. Yes, this
spending will boost the fortunes of the local economy. But, this isn't some kind of salve for a slowing
national economy -- it's too small and it is ill-timed. The idea that government spending can boost the
economy relies on the existence of excess saving, meaning that purchasing power exists and isn't
being used. If this is true, then it is possible that these funds can be accessed through government
bonds and used to stimulate production and income. But, timing is everything here. Economic down-
turns are generally short-lived. Embarking on a spending spree in 2009, 2010 and 2011 is likely to be
counterproductive.

Why not pair FMC with NAU on health training?
Arizona Daily Sun - March 30, 2008
I'm going to need your help to figure something out. Our Arizona universities are asking for increased
allocations from the state budget. Makes sense, as they're competing with the other 49 states for the
best and the brightest, and that takes money for salaries and staffing and research accoutrements.
So far I've got it. This week we're told NAU wants $100 million for a new health building. The cost of
health care technology is extremely high. And we need that equipment to train future health care
professionals. But here's where I get confused. Why would we buy health equipment that essentially
is unused at night, during school breaks, and on the weekends? Why wouldn't we place the equipment
in a hospital setting, where it's used for healthcare while simultaneously being used to train future health
care professionals? Right now FMC isn't a teaching hospital. OK.

Bet you can't get 1,000 mpg?
Arizona Daily Sun - March 29, 2008
There is being green and then there is the near-obsessive work of 11 NAU students. Their goal: To
design, build and drive a vehicle that gets 1,000 miles per gallon. They know it can be done. Last
year's winner of a national student design competition in which they are competing later this month
achieved 1,902.7 mpg. "We would love to win the competition," said Mike Barton, a senior mechanical
engineering major and captain of the senior design class team and driver of the appropriately named
Efficient Vehicle. The students have been broken up into two teams for the 2008 Shell Eco-Marathon,
a yearly competition held April 10-12 made up of 38 teams of university and high school students from
across the U.S., Canada and Mexico to push the limits of fuel-efficiency.

United Way surpasses $1.5M goal
Arizona Daily Sun - March 29, 2008
Chris and Corinne Bavasi, co-chairs of the United Way of Northern Arizona's 2007-08 Campaign, gave
some surprising news Friday morning to attendees at the annual recognition event at the new High
Country Conference Center on the NAU campus. "When we decided what the goal ought to be, we
thought a million and a half dollars sounded good," Chris Bavasi said. "The bad news is, we don't
know what the final figures are yet. The good news is ..." And the couple held up a 6-foot, black-and-
white banner proclaiming "1.5 million, plus," confirming the fundraising effort they led is on track to
meet and slightly surpass the daunting goal set a year ago.

Patents on rise at NAU
Arizona Daily Sun - March 28, 2008
The last few years have seen a voter-supported push to turn more ideas into products out of Northern
Arizona University. Researchers compete for state grant money and get assistance with patents and
licensing. The Arizona Board of Regents ultimately owns their ideas and can make continuing revenue
off the inventions. The number of inventions patented or sent to market is still fairly small, with various
levels of legal protection issued for 11 ideas in the last fiscal year, and $170,000 in revenues gained
from invention licensing in fiscal 2006.

Staph 'detectives' pioneer new test
Arizona Daily Sun - March 28, 2008
The microbes responsible for staph infections and other illnesses sickening an estimated 10 million
annually in the U.S. have new enemies at Northern Arizona University. Researchers here and at the
University of Maryland have designed an inexpensive, 10-minute blood test that would be the first to
detect staph and a few other infections. The groundbreaking discovery could lead to non-surgical
treatments for heart and joint infections, drug-resistant staph infections, bone infections and more.
In short, it's an entirely new way to diagnose and fight chronic infectious diseases. Northern Arizona
University associate professors Jeff Leid and Tim Vail have helped design a test that checks for anti-
bodies microbial networks, including the drug-resistant pathogen that makes staph infection a bigger
domestic killer than AIDS, at an estimated 18,650 deaths annually.

Initial statement led to confusion over leave, Olson contends
Arizona Daily Star - March 31, 2008
Lute Olson blamed confusion over his season-long leave of absence on an initial statement from his
now-estranged wife's public relations firm. The Arizona Wildcats' basketball coach, who changed the
stated reason for his leave from "not a health scare" to a "medical condition," said Sunday night that
he was not initially comfortable saying it was medically related because of the speculation that would
generate. At the same time, he said, the Phoenix-based firm Gordon C. James Public Relations
drafted a release denying the "health scare" and it was issued Nov. 4, when Olson first left the team.

U.S. News ranks 9 UA graduate programs in top 10
Arizona Daily Star - March 29, 2008
The University of Arizona has nine specific graduate programs that are among the Top 10 nationally in
their fields, according to the latest graduate school rankings by U.S. News & World Report. The UA
garnered top-10 rankings in audiology, analytical chemistry, Earth science, geology, information
systems, pharmacy, rehabilitation counseling, social psychology and speech-language pathology.
But the university was left out of top rankings in the magazine's lead categories for business, education,
engineering, law and medicine.

Ariz. lawmakers seek to ease teacher crunch by expanding program
Arizona Daily Star - March 29, 2008
When Sam Moody, 39, a junior high school teacher, moved from rural Missouri to Clifton in August, he
lived in his classroom for two weeks. "In the morning, I would put my cot in my car and teach for the day,"
he said. These days, Moody is living in a mobile home behind the school, he said. Even Bentley Terry,
the principal and superintendent of Clifton Unified School District, said after his arrival less than a year
ago in Clifton, a town of 2,000 in Greenlee County, he stayed in a hotel room for three months.

Credit card firms lure students with pizza, iPods
Tucson Citizen - March 31, 2008
Banks are getting more aggressive - and creative - in their efforts to pitch credit cards to college students
by hawking cards near college campuses and striking exclusive partnerships with college alumni
associations, according to a growing body of research. The latest sign: A study released by the U.S. Public
Interest Research Group shows that 76 percent of students say credit cards have been marketed to them
through tables set up on or near college campuses, and nearly a third of these students have been offered
a free gift to sign up. T-shirts were the most common gift given, but students also received Frisbees, candy,
pizza - even iPods - to fill out a credit card application, according to the group's research.

Concealed weapons bill divides UA community
Tucson Citizen - March 31, 2008
Bills on textbooks, public records also a concern
Sean Takesian sees nothing wrong with carrying a concealed weapon on the University of Arizona campus.
"What it gets down to," the senior physiology major said, "is it would make me feel safer. The way Arizona
law is now, I could conceal carry just about everywhere. I don't see why the college should be singled out
as gun-free." Neither does Sen. Karen Johnson (R-Mesa), the primary sponsor of Senate Bill 1214, which
would allow persons with a concealed-carry weapons permit to have handguns on college campuses. SB
1214 is one of more than 1,300 bills introduced in the state Legislature this session. Many are stalled in
various committees, but a few, including the gun bill, are still alive. If signed into law by Gov. Janet
Napolitano, they could have a serious impact on state universities.

Opinion: Pursuit of knowledge a rewarding chase
Tucson Citizen - March 29, 2008
Jennifer Tramm, a mother of two, is a journalism major at the University of Arizona.
The phrase "back to school" conjures up different images for different people. For some it's Rodney
Dangerfield; for others, it's a time to buy new clothes for the kids. For me and a growing number of
others older than 24, it means going to college later in life to get that bachelor's degree. It's not as
hard as people think, though that's a hard sell when I tell people my experiences. I was 32, had a
9-month-old baby and a 9-year-old daughter. We all survived on my husband's income. A lot of
people stop me right there and say, "How did you do it? I could never do that."

Budget talks to continue over weekend
Tucson Citizen - March 28, 2008
PHOENIX — Top state officials plan to keep talking over the weekend as they work to resolve the
state's budget crisis. That weekend work is believed to be a first in the talks that legislative leaders
began in January. Napolitano joined them earlier this month. Gov. Janet Napolitano and House
and Senate leaders met again Friday — an off-day for the rest of the Legislature — and Napolitano
spokeswoman Jeanine L'Ecuyer says the work will continue over the weekend.

Ex-regent aims for county post
ASU Web Devil - March 31, 2008
Ed Hermes, former student regent from ASU, running for supervisor
With the experience he gained during two years as an ASU student regent, Ed Hermes said he's now
ready to supervise Maricopa County. The former student regent on the Arizona Board of Regents, which
oversees the state's three public universities, jumped into the race for the Maricopa County Board of
Supervisors last month. If elected, the Chandler democrat would represent District 1, which covers
Tempe, parts of Mesa, Chandler, Ahwatukee and Queen Creek.

Education department proposes rules to clarify sharing student information
ASU Web Devil - March 28, 2008
Official: Modifications proposed in response to school violence
In light of recent school violence, the U.S. Department of Education took the first step Monday in clarifying
rules about releasing student information under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. The
department proposed new regulations to the law, known as FERPA, to update its rules and make them
clearer to universities. F-ERPA regulates the circumstances in which universities can release student
information. The clarifications were proposed in response to concerns from several universities, said
Jim Bradshaw, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Education.

Opinions: Six years for a degree?
ASU Web Devil - March 27, 2008
The four-year college degree is practically a thing of the past. In a nation where things are becoming
faster and more efficient by the second, why is it actually taking longer to achieve a bachelor's degree?
Shouldn't our country's education system be growing increasingly effective and accelerated along with
our technology? The Internet has brought about vast forms of media interchange to where we can
access any information we could possibly want to know while sitting on the toilet and playing with our
cell phone. With such quick and easy availability, it should be easier to accomplish our educational
goals. Instead, we are a nation of super-seniors and super-duper-seniors. A 2006 study by the
National Center for Education Statistics showed that less than 35 percent of students at "four-year
colleges" managed to finish their bachelor's degree in four years or less. After six years, 56 percent
of undergrads had finally graduated. What the heck is going on? Are we doomed to a lifetime of schooling?

UA a pioneer in green building practices
UA Daily Wildcat Online - March 31, 2008
From tapping into alternate light and water sources to changing the way people think about energy efficiency,
scientists globally continue to take steps toward eco-friendly construction practices. Building officials are
currently taking these advances out of the research lab and onto the UA campus. Although green living may
be all the rage now, the UA was adopting such practices before being kind to the environment was the
popular trend, said UA President Robert Shelton. "The UA should lead by example," he said. "What's really
important is what we're doing."

A tent divided
Arizona Capitol Times - March 28, 2008
Senate Republicans squabble over budget deficit, property-tax repeal Fundamental differences between
Republicans in the Senate surfaced in March after months of deadlock on a budget solution. Exchanges
in caucus meetings became sharper. Discussions became more personal. And at least one testy
exchange among members of the GOP led to a public apology. Republicans were able to agree on a
spending-freeze bill, but many underlying ideological conflicts remain unresolved – threatening to derail
the party from its stated priorities and further stall legislation aimed at a quick budget fix. Even bills not
related to spending bore the brunt. At least one Senator, Karen Johnson of Mesa, has decided to vote
against all measures until a budget solution is reached.

1st Native American is selected for post on Board of Regents
azcentral.com - March 30, 2008 12:00 AM
LuAnn Leonard didn't expect to be appointed to the Arizona Board of Regents. In fact, she didn't even
expect a call from the governor herself, confirming that she had been the first Native American appointed
to the board. But that's exactly what she got. "I was in shock for a little while there," Leonard said recently
in her office in Kykotsmovi Village in northeastern Arizona, one of the oldest continuously inhabited places
in the United States. The executive director of the Hopi Education Endowment Fund for the Hopi Tribe said
she was intimidated when she learned that she had been named to an eight-year term on the governing
body for the state's three universities.

UA HOLDING PUBLIC MEETINGS ABOUT NEW BIOSCIENCE PARK
States News Service - March 29, 2008
The following information was released by the University of Arizona: The University of Arizona is seeking
public comment for the proposed Master Land Use Plan for the Arizona Bioscience Park. The park is
located at 36th Street and Kino Boulevard. Two public meetings will be held to solicit comment and input
from the general public. The meetings are scheduled for April 1 and April 23. The Arizona Bioscience Park,
or BioPark, comprises 65 acres of land. It is part of a larger, master-planned, mixed-use development
known as The Bridges. The Bridges will include a 110-acre regional shopping center and 175 acres of
residential development.

EDUCATION: New 90/30 degree equals success, affordability
Ahwatukee Foothills News - March 27, 2008 - 6:25PM
CGCC to offer new program in the fall
Chandler-Gilbert Community College and Northern Arizona University have teamed up to make earning a
bachelor's degree easier and more affordable than ever, thanks to a new 90/30 partnership program.
CGCC and NAU will begin offering the 90/30 bachelor degree program this fall. It will allow CGCC students
to take their first 90 college credits at CGCC and their final 30 credits through NAU - all without ever leaving
CGCC's Pecos Campus. These credits will apply toward specific NAU bachelor's degree programs.
Students transferring to the 90/30 degree programs can apply approximately 30 more community college
credits toward a bachelor's degree than current two-year transfer degree programs, which translates into
substantial savings in tuition.

Among the Uninsured: 1.7 Million College Students
Inside Higher Ed - March 31, 2008
About 1.7 million traditional-aged college students, or 20 percent, are uninsured in the United States. And
student health plans – offered by 57 percent of all colleges – vary dramatically in terms of services covered,
according to a new report on college students and health insurance released by the United States
Government Accountability Office Friday. In a review of student health coverage available at 340 randomly
selected colleges, the GAO found that annual student health plan premiums range in cost from $30 to
$2,400, with some plans excluding or limiting preventative care, prescription drug coverage and other health
services. Maximum benefit amounts vary from $2,500 per condition, per year (which won’t cover the cost of a
hospital stay of any consequence), to $1 million per lifetime.