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Arizona Daily Wildcat
The independent student voice of the University of Arizona since 1899 monday, march 8, 2010 dailywildcat.com
New $500 fee
tucson, arizona
LUCKY NO. 13
Honors College motions for students to pay for smaller, specialized classes By Laura Donovan Arizona Daily Wildcat The UA is proposing a $500 annual fee for honors students, said Patricia MacCorquodale, dean of the Honors College. “There are a lot more individualized and personalized elements that go into the Honors College education,”MacCorquodale said. “They get smaller classes and more personalized attention.” MacCorquodale explained that it costs about twice as much for an honors class than a non-honors course, because classes are often smaller and are typically taught by faculty members as opposed to teaching assistants and adjuncts.
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I don’t like (the proposed fee) in principle, it’s basically making people pay for having passion for knowledge, but I understand that the economic climate right now is hard and the university is just trying to get by. It’s a necessary evil.
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— Louise Williams, philosophy freshman
“To provide these honors services, we needed to pay for that through a fee,” MacCorquodale said. The Honors Student Council voted March 3 to support the fee with the hope that, if implemented, honors students will have a direct say in the allocation of a large portion of the money. Other ideas included transparency in its allocation and a guarantee that it only benefits honors students. The Honors Student Council ensured that the Honors College is taking all possible measures to provide an honors education to everyone who wants it, said Tim Malan, president
of the council. “I truly believe that the dean wants what’s in our best interest, and I am glad that we really hit some important points in our discussion about the fee,” Malan said. Malan worries the fee has the potential to deter students from receiving honors education. “Hopefully this is something we can fix by using a large portion of the fee money to create opportunities in the honors program for both FAFSA and non-FAFSA students,”Malan said. MacCorquodale has not heard any positive or negative feedback on the proposed fee from any group outside of those she has already spoken with. “I talked to students about the fee in the last few years, and I met with the Honors Student Council a few times this semester,” MacCorquodale said about informing students of the possible fee. “I know that there are students who don’t want to pay a fee and are disappointed at the proposal.” MacCorquodale said other universities across the country charge fees for honors programs. “We’re sometimes asked if there’s an additional cost to being in the Honors College. It’s not an idea people have not thought about before,” she said. Communications senior and honors student Christine Filer expressed skepticism over the proposed fee. “Attaining high academic achievement shouldn’t be a finance burden,” Filer said. “The Honors College shouldn’t put another burden on students, especially since we are paying fees and tuition already.” Filer has been a member of the Honors Student Council for three years, and plans on graduating with honors. Philosophy freshman and honors student Louise Williams had a mixed response to the proposed fee. “I don’t like it in principle, it’s basically making people pay for having a passion for knowledge,” she said. “But I understand that the economic climate right now is hard and the university is just trying to get by. It’s a necessary evil.” Williams said it is the Honors College’s duty to make sure students understand exactly what the fee money is going toward.
Go inside For extensive coverage of the UA hoops team’s double overtime win against USC. PAGE 7
Alan Walsh/Arizona Daily Wildcat
Senior point guard Nic Wise floats the game-winning shot toward the basket in his final game as a Wildcat in McKale Center. Wise’s shot gave the Wildcats the lead late in the second overtime of Arizona’s 86-84 win over USC on Saturday.
College of Pharmacy helps El Rio residents By Luke Money Arizona Daily Wildcat UA College of Pharmacy students joined with the El Rio Neighborhood Community Center to host the El Rio Neighborhood Center Health and Safety Fair on Saturday. The fair featured local agencies, university health resources, education services and various tests and screenings for ailments, including asthma, high cholesterol and pulmonary irregularities. “We do the safety fair every year,” said Mariela Vega, recreation assistant and special events coordinator for the community center. “Every year, our goal is to get more agencies involved so we can provide more services to the community.” According to Vega, 85 service groups and community partners were represented at the event, which was combined with the Women’s Health Expo, a yearly event sponsored by UA pharmacy students. “(The pharmacy students) came to us this year asking if they could hold their event at our center on the same weekend as our safety fair,” Vega said. “Combining our two events just made sense.” Stacey Zuleta, a third-year pharmacy graduate student who organized the Women’s Health Expo, agreed with Vega.
Ernie Somoza/Arizona Daily Wildcat
From left, Isel Padilla, 4, Stehfan Chacon, 12, and Ana Padilla receive candy from Michaela Johnson-Clague, a pharmacy doctoral candidate, wearing a Kangaroo suit in order to raise awareness to families about medicine being mistaken for candy. The College of Pharmacy worked in conjunction with El Rio Neighborhood Health and Safety Fair to put on their Women’s Health Expo on Sunday.
“We’ve always done the Women’s Health Expo, but we’ve never gotten more than 300 people to attend,” Zuleta said.“We were looking for more exposure, but we didn’t have a lot of ability to advertise or draw people in
so we decided to have our event with El Rio.” Vega and Zuleta estimated that 1,000 people attended the four-hour fair. “I think it’s very important for people to come to events like this,”
Zuleta said. “A lot of the time it’s very hard to get in to see a doctor. We provide a lot of information and screenings for free and even though we can’t give definitive diagnoses, we can definitely give doctors a guide for
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what they should do.” Local agencies, including the National Parks Service, the Tucson Police Department and the UA University Physicians Healthcare, were also at the fair. “This is really the perfect opportunity to get our services out to the community,” said Deborah Montgomery, the community and member outreach coordinator for University Family Care, a division of University Physicians Healthcare. “Getting the word out, answering questions, and providing information for people, that’s what we’re doing here.” According to Zuleta, more than 100 pharmacy students volunteered for the event in various capacities. Evan Hood, a first-year pharmacy graduate student, helped organize the three speakers for the event. “We want people to learn what pharmacists can do,” Hood said. “We don’t just give out medication and fulfill prescriptions, we can also do screenings. We want to increase awareness of the health disparities in the community.” Libby Giesler,a second-year pharmacy graduate student, administered asthma screenings at the fair. “So many people have diseases, simple things that could be controlled,” Giesler said.“Our main effort here is to save people trips to the hospital, which saves them money in the end.”
: @DailyWildcat