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Higher ed under review
Arizona Board of Regeants discusses 3 universities’ future By Taylor Avey ARIZONA DAILY WILDCAT
Timothy Galaz/Arizona Daily Wildcat
UA President Robert Shelton and the Arizona Board of Regents address state education issues in the Student Union Memorial Center Main Ballroom on Dec. 3, 2009.
The UA will discuss the Arizona Stadium construction, hiring the interim soccer coach full-time and education issues at the Arizona Board of Regents meeting today. ABOR will meet all day today and half a day tomorrow to plan for future funding for Arizona’s three universities at the West Campus of Arizona State University in Glendale, Ariz. Gov. Jan Brewer will address the
presidents of the three universities and listen to what each university is doing to run the education system more efficiently and how each is cutting down on the cost of programs. Regents will also be asked to approve the financial aid plan for the 2009 fiscal year and review financial aid plans for the 2010 and 2011 fiscal years. These plans include the total amount of financial aid awarded for last year’s academic session. The reports will further outline which measures the universities will take to
ensure education remains affordable. The tuition and affordability policy is also something the board will review. Regents will hear arguments for redelegating the authority to approve the academic calendar and will review graduation trends as well. They will specifically look at the amount of undergraduates enrolling and graduating at each of the universities. Each year, regents hear projections on the number of students expected to enroll and graduate. ABOR, page 7
Textbook rental option growing By Taylor Avey ARIZONA DAILY WILDCAT The expanded textbook rental program was discussed in length at Wednesday’s Associated Students of the University of Arizona meeting. Frank Farias, assistant vice president of student affairs and executive director of UofA Bookstores, addressed ASUA leadership alongside Cindy Hawk, associate director of UofA Bookstores, to draw attention to the progress of the program. “We’re still continuing to evolve and improve the program,” Farias said. The textbook rental program provides students with new or slightly used books at 40 percent of the original cost. There is no return value from renting textbooks but students and parents save money in the process, according to Hawk. Farias and Hawk initiated the program to give students more options and to provide more opportunities to get the materials they need for as little money as possible. “We’re continually looking for ways to reduce the cost,” Farias said. Farias and Hawk are also looking for ways to better the program in hopes of attracting more students. When Hawk asked senators for a show of hands of those who had used the program this semester, no one raised their hand. “I find it odd that nobody took advantage of it,” Hawk said. Farias hopes to apply for grants and find other external revenue sources that would allow him to take the program further. Currently, reading materials with looseleaf papers bound together, similar to Class Notes, are not available for rent, according to Hawk. Farias and Hawk are looking for ways to improve and expand the program to include more book titles and more avenues for getting materials and textbooks to students at a low cost. “We know we must be able to deliver the content in whatever context the students want it,” Farias said. ASUA, page 7
Lisa Beth Earle/Arizona Daily Wildcat
Jessica Brown (second from left), an undecided freshman, Cassidy Matheson, a pre-education freshman, Anne Kay, a political science freshman and Christine Filer, a communications junior and Kaibab-Huachuca resident assistant, decorate reusable water bottles during a Recycle Mania event in Kaibab-Huachuca on Wednesday.
Res halls battle for recycling crown By Bethany Barnes ARIZONA DAILY WILDCAT The UA is crazy about Recycle Mania and getting greener by the day. “We are competing as an entire campus, including facilities management, the unions and Res Life. That means no matter where you recycle on campus, it’s getting counted,” said Jill Burchell, coordinator of sustainability education for Residence Life. Last year, the UA won fourth place in the gorilla category at the national level, which counts the volume of recycling for the whole campus. “Individual hall councils and (resident assistants) are encouraged to do programming around sustainability throughout Recycle Mania. Each
program earns points, so the more they do, the better,” Burchell said. Last year, there were more than 220 sustainability programs in residence halls. This year the residence hall with the most points will earn $250. Kaibab-Huachuca Residence Hall has already started promoting sustainability. On Tuesday Kaibab-Huachuca held an event called The Sustainable Iron Chef, which included a fourcourse meal and two chefs. The food was made with local ingredients from Arizona and California. There were about 35 people at the event. On Wednesday the hall hosted an event to promote sustainable water bottles. Residents were each given a free aluminum water bottle to decorate.
Fall 2009 Recycling Results Total recycled by commodity: Plastic - 17,325 pounds Paper - 38,550 pounds Aluminum - 1,360 pounds Cardboard - 19,125 pounds Top residence halls in recycling pounds per resident: Maricopa - 15.33 pounds Pima - 14.65 poumds Hopi Graham-Greenlee - 14.19 pounds Stickers, glitter and puff paint were provided for decorating. “I think it’s very creative,”said Taylor Tillery, an animal sciences freshman. Students enjoyed decorating the
water bottles. “I really like it. You can put stickers on it and it looks really cool. I can just fill it up and then I don’t have to use these (plastic bottles),” said Cassidy Matheson, a pre-education freshman. Matheson bought a plastic bottle earlier that day and was happy to have sustainable water bottle. “We are all pretty active and athletic, so the first thing we thought of was water bottles,” said Megan Johnston, an RA who helped plan the event.“We are just really excited.” Alana Sorge, director of sustainability for Kaibab-Huachuca, said they had seen a lot of support from residents, as well as from the campus. RECYCLE, page 5
Bill may make transferring AZ schools easier By Brian Mori ARIZONA DAILY WILDCAT If passed, a bill presented Wednesday at the Arizona Senate would require state community colleges and universities to standardize the names and course numbers of 100- and 200-level classes to ease registration for students who transfer within the state. Sen. John Huppenthal, R-Chandler, state senate education chairman and chairman of the Senate Education Accountability and Reform Committee introduced SB 1186.
He explained the purpose was to make transferring credits for approved equivalent courses easier between community and university campuses. “You have thousands of courses and some of them are pretty straightforward,” Huppenthal said. He added that the idea that calculus at UA is different than calculus at ASU is ridiculous. Huppenthal credited the Arizona Students Association for helping draft the legislation. “This is something we’ve been working on for a decade and a half,” he said. “(But the Arizona Students
Association) had a lot of the work done in advance.” Ben Henderson, member of the ASA Board of Directors, hopes the bill will pass through to the Senate without problems. “We noticed that students have had a lot of trouble transferring their credits. I think we’re expecting a smooth ride the whole way through,” said Henderson. “Whenever they need a student opinion we’ll be right there to give it.” Henderson was at the capitol in Phoenix for the Senate Education Accountability and Reform Committee’s
decision. “We’re all really excited about how smoothly it went. The vote was 7-0,” he said. The bill still has the journey through the caucus and then back to committee before it goes to the floor of the Senate, but Huppenthal said he expects it to do well. “It’s just a phenomenal idea, the question is nothing is ever simple,” he added. Henderson, an ASU student, said the only questions raised by the senators were about how to implement the specifics. Huppenthal is running for the
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Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. If elected to the position, he will also sit as an ex-officio member on the Arizona Board of Regents, which governs education policy and cost. “Taking unnecessary classes that don’t help to get your degree is an incredible waste. I think establishing this will be healthy. It may need some follow-up legislation,” he said. Associated Students of the University of Arizona South President Andres Gabaldon said that SB 1186 will greatly help students on the non-traditional college path.
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