tuesday, september , tucson, arizona
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Finding Foles
See why the Wildcats didn’t give snaps to two QBs as expected
SPORTS
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DW OPINIONS
Obama drama
President’s address to the nation’s children causes controversy
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Arizona Daily Wildcat
dailywildcat.com
The student voice of the University of Arizona since 1899
Board seeking student regent By Tim McDonnell ARIZONA DAILY WILDCAT Calling all students: starting today, ASUA is accepting applications for the next student representative for the Arizona Board of Regents, the state’s governing body for higher education. Students interested in the unpaid, two-year position must have a thorough knowledge of the Arizona state legislative process and a strong desire to represent the interests of UA students, former student regent David Martinez said.
Martinez, who now works as a campus organizer for the Arizona Student Association, served as a regent from 2007 to 2009. The regent does not have a vote on the board during their first year, but does vote in the second year. Student regents have all the rights and responsibilities of other regents, Martinez said. Applications for the position can be obtained from the Associated Students of the University of Arizona’s Web site or office, said ASUA Excutive Vice President and selection committee chair Emily Fritze . Informational sessions about the position
will be held on Sept. 14 and Oct. 12 at times and locations to be decided later, Fritze said. The application deadline is Oct. 18. Fritze said she hopes to receive at least 40 applications, which her committee will narrow down to a group of three. Those three applicants will interview with the governor, who will make the final selection. The selection committee will comprise a total of eight representatives pulled from ASUA, the Graduate and Professional Student Council, ASA, faculty and other students, Fritze said.
The committee is looking for “someone who’s going to represent the school well and be an advocate for UA students,” Fritze said. The position was created in 1978, Martinez said, and provides a challenging opportunity for students to make an impact on the governing process. The position is important, he said, because it “gives a perspective that would otherwise not be seen at (the Arizona Board of Regents).” “(Student regents) advocate as fiercely as possible to ensure that our education is as affordable and accessible as possible,” he said.
ASUA, GPSC seek ‘bridgification’
INSIDE BEFORE YOU LEAVE… Bar owners talk about drunken patrons who may become impaired drivers. Most have a system in place to prevent this from happening, and it starts with bartenders. PAGE 3
TREASURER WALKS AND TALKS The Daily Wildcat gets the scoop on the state budget from the main man with the money, and he says the situation may not be as bad as we think.
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WE’RE STILL HERE! Local Democratic organizers say the grassroots energy generated among young people for Obama has not been lost, only redirected; hear their plans for the next phase of Democratic activism.
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TEXT A TAXI If your speech is too slurred to talk to a taxi dispatcher, this new program may be for you: Discount Cab taxis can now be summoned with a text message.
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Student sues over stun gun Photo illustration by Colin Darland
Repair, reconcile, restore: student groups aim to end feud, communicate on campus issues By Lance Madden ARIZONA DAILY WILDCAT The best way to maintain a good relationship is through excellent communication. In what the Graduate and Professional Student Council President Dave Talenfeld has coined a “bridgification” phase, GPSC and Associated Students of the University of Arizona are using communication as their strongest point of entry into each other’s good graces. “The reason why communication is important is so that each organization understands what the other is doing on a consistent basis, so that we can exchange ideas, discuss things, and also so that we can support one another and
help each other out,” said ASUA President Chris Nagata, This move is not to remerge two organizations that were once one. Rather, it is to try to end a feud that has evolved over nearly two decades. Three graduate students, Carlos Rodriguez, Javier Duran and Stephanie Wickstrom started what was then called the Graduate Student Council, in 1991 after branching away from ASUA. Since then, there has been some animosity between the two groups. In 2005, former ASUA President Cade Bernsen dismissed the GPSC as nothing more than a club. Around the same time, then-GPSC President Elaine Ulrich told the Arizona
Daily Wildcat that ASUA “falsely claims” to represent all UA students. At the turn of the century, ex-ASUA President Ben Graff accused the GPSC of smearing his actions as the student body president and of “stabbing (ASUA) in the back.” Just last year GPSC pulled funds to send a bus full of students up to the state capitol because the GPSC president at the time, Stephen Bieda, wasn’t allowed to speak at the capitol alongside then-ASUA President Tommy Bruce, Talenfeld said. The way to become allies is to forget the history of the two groups, Nagata said. BRIDGE, page 7
TUCSON — The Oro Valley Police Department is being sued by a UA student over claims of reckless assault and detention as he headed to a football game last fall. The Aug. 11 suit that John Wisner filed in Pima County Superior Court states he was detained and shot with a Taser gun by Oro Valley police officer Bryan Wiggins. Oro Valley police declined to comment on the suit to The Associated Press or the Daily Wildcat. Wisner’s attorney, James Marner, did not return calls seeking comment. At the time of the Oct. 25 incident, Wiggins was off-duty from his Oro Valley job and working in uniform for the UA. Wisner is seeking an unspecified amount of compensation for allegedly suffering serious, permanent physical injuries, as well as mental anguish. — The Associated Press
Grijalva, panel address health care reform By Angel Allen ARIZONA DAILY WILDCAT The first bilingual town hall meeting about health care reform had no raucous dissenters, but there were enough tears to move the audience into heartfelt cheering. Congressman Raul Grijalva was the main speaker at Saturday’s town hall meeting at Sunnyside High School in south Tucson. Grijalva presides over District 7, the district that includes the UA campus. A panel of health care providers and experts also spoke. The meeting was moderated by reporters Mary Rabago and Karla Gómez-Escamilla of Univision. The meeting, conducted in Spanish, was intended for a Hispanic population who otherwise may not hear the reform options being put forward in Congress. Translator earpieces were available for those who needed them. Grijalva spoke last of the panel. In his fourth term of Congress and with over 30 years of Arizona politics experience, Grijalva has vowed to vote only for a health care reform plan that includes a public option. Public investment is a necessary component of a successful health care plan, he said.
“When we as a nation spoke of the government bailing out the banks, or when we spoke of bailing out the auto industry, that wasn’t socialism,” he said. “But now when we speak of investing in a bright future for our children, that’s socialism. Right now, we are fighting political philosophies rather than fighting the reality we are facing.” Organizing for America, the group that hosted the meeting, is part of the Democratic National Committee and is currently focused on grassroots activism for health care reform, Jessica Jones, the Arizona director for the organization, said. The group’s goal, she said, is to “bring political agendas to people face-to-face on their porches, at their dinner tables, and in their communities.” Jones added that holding the forum in Spanish was important because “this legislation is going to affect everyone, no matter their language.” Chris Parent, a political science junior, is an intern this semester for Organizing for America, working particularly for the health care reform public option. The public option, he says, is designed to provide for the people who are shut-down by insurance companies for pre-existing
illnesses. An important part of the health care reform plans that Congressman Grijalva is supporting is the upgrade of technology in hospitals, Parent said. This upgrade will greatly reduce cost and prevent errors in service. One panelist was Josefina Ilturrade, a surviving breast and liver cancer patient who has been having trouble with her health insurance. She cried as she spoke of how difficult it is to provide for her children while battling both to stay alive and to pay the bills. Her ardent pleas for support of Grijalva’s efforts to implement a public option were met with loud clapping and cheering. Medical professionals were on hand to validate Ilturrade’s and others’ distress. College of Pharmacy clinical instructor and doctor of pharmacy Sandra Leal said that people now “have to make the choice between paying their bills and paying for their medications.” This should not be a choice they have to make, she said. “If children can choose what schools they go to, they should be able to choose what doctor they go to. It’s a human rights issue.” REFORM, page 14
Congressman Raul Grijalva speaks at a town hall meeting on health care reform at Sunnyside High School on Saturday, Sept. 5 with other panelists from the Tucson community. The public forum, hosted by Organizing for America, was conducted mostly in Spanish in an effort to better reach the Spanishspeaking community. Lisa Earle/ Arizona Daily Wildcat