TO CLIPS INDEX Clips for January 31, February 1 & 2

Budget process still drawing fire
The Arizona Republic 2/2/09
Critics: Lack of transparency persists. This was
the year the state-budget process was going to
change. It would be open and transparent, and
the agreement would be hammered out in the
Legislature's budget committees. Luckily,
there's still 11 months left in this year. The deal
to erase the deficit in this year's budget was
worked out behind closed doors in late-night
sessions. When a plan emerged, lawmakers
had less than 48 hours to digest it before
casting a final vote. Even then, there were
last-minute additions that flew under the radar.

Don Budinger Viewpoint: There are sensible
ways to fix our budget
The Arizona Republic 2/1/09
One in an occasional series of perspectives on
Arizona's budget deficit. The time has come to
look our future square in the eye and not blink.
Arizona does not have an expense problem.
The budget crisis has not been caused by
excessive spending. What we have is a serious
revenue shortfall.  Two years ago, we had a
billion-dollar surplus. Half of it was employed
to make strategically important investments for
Arizona's future and half was returned to tax-
payers in the form of tax cuts.  Now, the revenue
level that produced the surplus has fallen
dramatically. This is the problem. And the short-
fall is the result of the structural flaw in Arizona's
economic model. We have too much reliance on
sales tax and too much reliance on too few
industries. When home building, real-estate
transactions, car sales and retail plummet, the
state's revenue plummets. What's missing in
the current budget debate is any discussion of
revenue enhancement.

Ariz. gets low grade on teacher retention
The Arizona Republic 2/2/09
A report looking at how well states retain effective
new elementary- and high-school teachers gives
Arizona a 'D+.' "Arizona can help districts do much
more to ensure that the right teachers stay," said
Kate Walsh, president of the National Council on
Teacher Quality, the nonpartisan, Washington
group that prepared the report. It cited Arizona for
doing a particularly poor job of retention, stating: 
• Although the state controls how and when school
districts may award teachers tenure, it does not
require districts to collect any evidence of teachers'
effectiveness.

Kavanagh says universities will go medieval
with cuts
The Arizona Republic 2/1/09
Back to the Middle Ages . . . There are many ways
to measure the impact of state-budget cuts. There's
the obvious dollar amount. There's the effect on
people's lives. And then there's the historical
perspective. Members of the House Appropriations
Committee were debating the cost of photocopying
at Arizona State University and whether those costs
decline as the semester wears on and students drop
classes. But committee Chairman John Kavanagh,
R-Fountain Hills, interrupted to say the conversation
was way too 21st century.  "Since our cuts are going
to send ASU back to the Middle Ages, the question
is how many monks will they need?" he said.

State erases $1.6 billion budget deficit
The Arizona Republic 2/1/09
With the $1.6 billion budget deficit now erased, the
governor and legislative leaders are warning that
more cuts may be needed. "Additional fixes are
very likely to be required for the fiscal year 2009
budget, and even more difficult decisions remain
as we confront the realities of a $3.4 billion deficit
for fiscal year 2010," Gov. Jan Brewer said in a
statement issued minutes after the Legislature
finalized budget cuts early Saturday. Brewer made
the action official when she signed the six-bill pack-
age later that morning. They were the first bills she's
signed in her 10-day tenure, and they contained
some of the biggest cuts the state has seen: nearly
$300 million to education, more than $90 million
in various welfare and social-service programs,
and $22 million in prisons. The budget passed
largely along partisan lines, with Republicans in
favor and Democrats opposed, following a tense
three-day special session. In the Senate,
Republicans Carolyn Allen of Scottsdale and
Jay Tibshraeny of Chandler voted against the
two bills that cut education.

Governor signs budget deficit fix after lawmakers' OK
The Arizona Republic/12 News 1/31/09 12:15 PM
Gov. Jan Brewer signed a package of bills late Saturday
morning that cuts the state budget $1.6 billion. The bills
erase the deficit through nearly $300 million in cuts to
education, reductions in most state agencies and
 anticipated $500 million boost from the still-evolving
federal stimulus package. The state Legislature's
special session to resolve the $1.6 billion budget deficit
concluded early Saturday morning amid Republican
relief that spending had been reined in and Democratic
complaints that the cuts will cause long-term harm to
Arizona. The budget generally passed along party lines:
Republicans in favor, Democrats opposed. “The best
thing in this budget is that it closes the hole in the deficit,”
a weary Speaker Kirk Adams, R-Mesa, said.

New nurses in Arizona face hiring challenges
AP/The Arizona Republic/fox11az.com
1/31/09 12:50 PM MST
PHOENIX -- Nathan Caulk graduated from Arizona State
University last month with a degree that he thought was
better than gold in these tough economic times: a
bachelor's degree in nursing.  But when Caulk sent out
resumes to metro Phoenix hospitals, he didn't get a
response. So he took a job where he trained as a student,
the Carl T. Hayden VA Medical Center. New graduates
such as Caulk are discovering that landing an entry-level
nursing job has become more challenging as hospitals
scale back hiring because of the recession. The slower
entry-level job market is a sharp contrast to recent times,
when hospitals rapidly hired new graduates to address
the state's critical nursing shortage. Some hospitals are
not hiring new nurses, while others have reduced or
eliminated the use of temporary or traveling nurses
who once helped with the area's nursing shortage.

Matthew Ladner Commentary: Education in Arizona
is better off than you might think
East Valley Tribune 1/31/09  8:55PM
Arizona faces one of the largest budget deficits in the
nation and lawmakers are struggling to close the gap.
Because half of all General Fund spending goes to-
ward education, schools and universities will
necessarily be affected by the state’s across-the-board
belt tightening. While some school administrators and
special interest groups have referred to the potential
budget cuts “slashing education” and “shortsighted
and borderline malicious,” the Goldwater Institute
would like to separate the reality of education funding
in Arizona from several often publicized myths.
....Myth No. 8: Cuts in university funding will drive
Arizona into “third world” status. Fact: Statewide,
higher education budgets have increased by $332
million since 2004. If the full proposed cut of $80.5
million to Arizona State University’s budget were
enacted, it would still receive more state funding
than in 2006.

Settlement in ASU dorm rape claim
East Valley Tribune 1/31/09 10:29PM
ESPN.com said Friday that in an unprecedented legal
settlement, a former Arizona State University student
who was reportedly raped in her dorm room in 2004
by one of the school's football players will collect
$850,000, and the Arizona university system will
establish a women's safety czar for all three major
campuses, ASU, the University of Arizona and
Northern Arizona University.

ASU professor sees gold in green algae
East Valley Tribune 1/31/09  8:34PM
Massive amounts of algae growing in a backyard
pool might spur one to grab a bottle of chlorine
and start scrubbing. Not Milton Sommerfeld.
Though he’s no pool guy, to him it’s green gold.
The 40-year veteran ASU professor and algologist
has spent more than two decades nurturing the
idea of extracting biofuel from algae. “I think it’s
going to be one of the alternatives,” Sommerfeld
said, standing on a balcony overlooking a plot of
land punctuated by giant vats bubbling with the
stuff at ASU Polytechnic campus in Mesa.

Legendary ASU coach Castillo dies at age 90
East Valley Tribune 2/1/09 10:00 AM
Senon "Baldy" Castillo, a former Hall of Fame track
and field coach at Arizona State University, died
Saturday at his Phoenix home. Castillo had turned
90 on Jan. 19. Castillo led the Sun Devil track pro-
gram for 29 years (1949-82) and led his squad to
the 1977 NCAA outdoor championship, the only
national men’s team title in program history until
the 2008 Sun Devils captured their crown. “I feel
'Baldy' really signified not only the golden era of
ASU track and field, but also the golden era of
Arizona State athletics and he will be sorely
missed,” Greg Kraft, director of track and field
at ASU, said in a statement released by the
university

Brewer signs budget with $580M in cuts
Capitol Media Services/East Valley Tribune
1/31/09 3:17PM 
Gov. Jan Brewer signed legislation Saturday to fix
the current budget, paving the way for lawmakers
to start dealing with an even bigger deficit expected
next year. Gubernatorial press aide Paul Senseman
said Brewer, who has been governor for less than
two weeks, recognizes the hardship that the $580
million in spending cuts will create. Hardest hit is
education, with a $142 million hit to the university
system, $9 million taken from community colleges
and $133 million less in state aid to public schools.

Editorial Opinion: Vulnerability of NAU in recession
a worry
Arizona Daily Sun 2/1/09
Economic downturns hit the state and Flagstaff periodically,
and with varying degrees of severity. But we expect
institutions like Northern Arizona University to weather them,
and this one will be no different. What has changed, though,
in the last half-century is the breadth and depth of NAU’s
relationship with greater Flagstaff. When the region relied
primarily on logging, ranching and mining, higher education
was less important. Fast-forward to an era in which bio-
science, alternative energy and information technology are
the keys to Flagstaff’s economic future, and the value of
having a research university right in our midst is incalculable.
Thus there is reason for all to be concerned when NAU’s bud-
get takes a disruptive hit. With more than 3,800 employees, it
is by far the region’s largest employer. And based on the
multiplier effect of  NAU’s $400 million in annual spending,
one study concludes that it is responsible for one in seven
jobs in Coconino County. The presence alone of 12,000
students in a city of 60,000 makes its impact on Flagstaff far,
far greater than that caused by ASU and UA on Phoenix and
Tucson, respectively.

Student services: Vital for success
Arizona Daily Sun 2/1/09
Some of the more visible cuts to Northern Arizona
University's budget are in academic areas: larger
classes caused by a hiring freeze on professors.
But David Bousquet knows that no departments
in his division -- student services, ranging from
housing to dining, health care to tutoring -- will
go untouched, either. Bousquet, vice president
for Enrollment Management and Student Affairs,
said the extent to which services will be reduced
and fees raised hasn't been determined yet. But
the rimming started before budget reductions
shifted from uncomfortable to crisis. A hiring
freeze has left many positions open and
required creative staffing. But so far, Bousquet
said, students have not yet been adversely
affected.

NAU's final target: $11M more to cut by June 30
Arizona Daily Sun 2/1/09
With final passage of the revised 2008-09 state
budget, NAU has a better idea of its likely share
of the cuts to universities. A statement released
Saturday by President John Haeger pegs it as
between $21 million and $22 million. That’s
about twice as much as the university planned
for back in late fall. So far, the university has
frozen hiring, resulting in not filling nearly 100
positions; stopped the expansion of new health-
professions programs; closed the Center for
High Altitude Training and the NAU Social
Research Lab; severely restricted travel and
purchases; and asked faculty and staff to
increase workloads.

NAU budget not easy to cut at mid-year
Arizona Daily Sun 2/1/09
Some areas are off-limits due to grants, while
most instructional spending is tied to contracts
that can't be changed.  On paper, building a
$401 million university budget seems easy
when the funding comes from many different
sources. But cutting the Northern Arizona
University budget by $20.5 million (or about
5 percent) after more than half the money in
the budget has been spent and a third of
what is left can’t be touched can be a
practical nightmare. That’s what NAU
officials say they are facing as the Legislature
moves toward slicing 12.7 percent of this
year’s $161 million appropriation to NAU.
With only five months left, however, that’s
more like a cut of 30 percent of the remaining
$67 million that had been set to come from
the state.

Furloughs difficult but not impossible
Arizona Daily Sun 2/1/09
Furloughs are an ugly word for most employees
in northern Arizona. Few are receptive to an
unplanned, unpaid day off, but the alternative
is much worse: Possible unemployment. In an
attempt to save $2 million of an estimated $20
million that must be cut by June 30, NAU
administrators are continuing to discuss a
furlough program that could be implemented
before the end of this fiscal year. It has been
estimated that NAU can save up to $500,000
per furlough day. Under one hypothetical model,
employees making more than $40,000 would be
asked to take three days off while university vice
presidents would take six days off. Roughly
1,655 employees would likely be affected by
the furlough plan.

NAU institutes might be on their own
Arizona Daily Sun 2/1/09
The closing of two high-profile institutes at the
NAU may prove to be a sign from university
officials that only self-sufficient entities will
survive the next round of cuts. President
Haeger said programs or research centers
would be evaluated as the university braces
for even larger cuts in its next budget cycle,
which begins July 1. The Office of the Vice
President for Research's Web site lists more
than 40 centers and institutes at NAU.
Professor Fred Slop said he was frugal
while serving as the director of the Social
Research Laboratory at NAU. Bulky surplus
desks and worn-out chairs were the norm.

Runners lament loss of High Altitude Training
Center
Arizona Daily Sun 1/31/09
The closure by NAU of the Center for High Altitude
Training will mean less national exposure for Flag-
staff and the likely loss of world- acclaimed running
coach Jack Daniels. Rain or shine, every Tuesday
they don their running shorts and shoes and gather
at 6 p.m. to do their weekly group workout. Meet
Team Altius, the popular community-running club
that is in its third year on the NAU campus. Local
runners of all levels, ages 10 and older, can join
the club. The main requirement is a desire to run.
Since its inception, the team had been under the
auspices of the NAU Center for High Altitude
Training (HATC), which opened in 1994 with
a mission to host elite-endurance athletes for
 training. In 2004, the center was designated
a U.S. Olympic Training Site.

Editorial Opinion: Local businesses know the
value of good schools
Arizona Daily Star 2/2/09
Our view: Plan to give internships to teachers will
improve education, make learning relevant and
help businesses. Education and the economy are
inseparable, as the quality of one depends on the
quality of the other. Employers depend on schools
to turn out students who are well-educated and
qualified to take jobs, and public schools depend
on businesses and residents for a tax base to
operate. In the best sense, schools are more
than factories churning out potential workers.
But Arizona is so broke we can't afford to be high-
minded about education — and our state law-
makers have neglected public education long
enough to make it clear that they don't get it at
any level. Business leaders do understand the
connection, however, and they're stepping up to
help through Tucson Values Teachers, an effort
by business and education leaders to attract
teachers to local schools and then retain them.

Work furloughs announced for University of
Arizona employees
Arizona Daily Star 2/2/09
UA officials plan to slash funding to performance
arts programming, shutter on-campus museums
and suspend outreach programs across the state
in an effort to absorb about $57 million in state
budget cuts, President Robert Shelton announced
this afternoon. The cuts — which affect UApresents,
the Flandrau Science Center and Arizona State
Museum — are part of an effort to cut expenses
after lawmakers approved a budget that cut
almost $142 million from all three state universities.
Shelton also announced that beginning in July all
faculty members and staffers whose salaries are
paid for by state or local money will be furloughed
for five days in an attempt to stave off even larger
budget cuts in 2010.

Group hopes to educate students on pets, reduce
UA abandonments
Arizona Daily Star 2/2/09
When lawyer Mike Tully worked at the UA, he knew
of 17 colonies of feral cats roaming campus — pets
that students abandoned at year's end after keeping
them illegally in dorms. Now, with a nudge from Tully,
a student-run group has formed at the university to
urge pet owners to do the right thing. The Arizona
AdvoCATS hope to educate off-campus students,
and those who intend to live away from campus in
the future, about everything that comes with owning
Bacardi the dog or Jimmy Choo the cat. "I think it's
mostly just a misunderstanding of what kind of
commitment it takes," said club vice president Matt
Velaski, a freshman who plans to study veterinary
science. "I have friends who live off-campus, and
they learn pretty quick that it's a lot more responsibility
than they thought." More than 80 percent of University
of Arizona undergraduate students lived off-campus
during the 2007-08 school year.

Seeking solar power you can carry
Arizona Daily Star 2/2/09
In Neal Armstrong's freshman chemistry classes
at the University of Arizona, he makes students
calculate the amount of carbon dioxide that is
released every time they charge their cell phones
or I-Pods. It comes out to about half a pound per
charge, based on electricity produced and trans-
ported from Tucson Electric Power's coal-burning
plant in Springerville. In his laboratories in the
Chemical Sciences Building, Armstrong is
directing about 20 undergraduates, graduate
students and postdoctoral scientists in a project
to do something about that — solving the
chemistry problems that stand in the way of
creating cheap, flexible, portable solar panels
that will keep those batteries charged.

Endowed chair to cancer researcher
Arizona Daily Star 2/2/09
A local skin cancer researcher has been named
to a new endowed research chair at the Arizona
Cancer Center.  A $1 million gift from Tucson
residents Alan and Janice Levin will pay for the
new position. The first appointee to the post is
Dr. Clara Curiel, who is director of the Pigmented
Lesion Clinic and the Multidisciplinary Cutaneous
Oncology Program at the cancer center's Skin
Cancer Institute. The Levin family has lived in
Tucson since 1969 and Alan Levin was once
Curiel's patient. The Levin family owns and
operates Century Park Research Center, a
warehousing, distribution and manufacturing
center, and the Port of Tucson intermodal rail
facility.

Governor signs off on cuts of $580M
Capitol Media Services/Arizona Daily Star
2/1/09
PHOENIX — Gov. Jan Brewer signed legislation
Saturday to fix the state's current budget, paving
the way for lawmakers to start dealing with an
even bigger deficit expected next year.
Gubernatorial press aide Paul Senseman said
Brewer, who has been governor for less than
two weeks, recognizes the hardship that the
$580 million in spending cuts will cause. Hardest
hit is education, with a $142 million blow to the
university system, $9 million taken from
community colleges and $133 million less in
state aid to public schools.  "The governor is
very concerned about the effect and impact
of this budget," Senseman said. He said the
cuts had to be made because of the $1.6 billion
deficit in the $9.9 billion spending plan, a deficit
he said Brewer inherited from former Gov.
Janet Napolitano.

Ernesto Portillo Jr.: Students seize on activities
that will lead them to college
Arizona Daily Star 2/1/09
In Latino culture, the quinceañera is a traditional
rite of passage for 15-year-old girls entering a new
stage in life. Taking a cue from the quinceañera,
adding a few cultural and educational twists, some
Tucson high school students are engaged in another
kind of rite of passage: preparing for college. At
Desert View High School in the Sunnyside Unified
School District and at Cholla Magnet High School
in the Tucson Unified School District, two small
groups of students, including boys, are participating
in a school-sanctioned club called Quince para mis
Quince or Fifteen for my Fifteenth. The idea, said
Elizabeth Arnot-Hopffer, is to allow the students,
all 14- and 15-year-old freshmen, to focus on 15
activities in the school year that promote college
as a goal. The clubs "create a college-going culture,"
said Arnot-Hopffer, associate director of the Tucson
GEAR UP Project at the University of Arizona.

New UA list has 32 majors under scrutiny for
closure
Arizona Daily Star 1/31/09
About 30 majors at the UA could be one step closer
to closure after the university released an updated
list of majors that aren't producing enough graduates.
The latest report is part of a months-long process to
streamline academic offerings in the face of declining
state support, though University of Arizona officials
have said that just because a degree program is
labeled "low-producing" doesn't necessarily mean
it will be cut. Officials released a report earlier this
month that identified more than 40 offerings on
campus as low-producing according to standards
set by the Arizona Board of Regents. However, several
deans and administrators immediately pointed out that
the initial analysis failed to count students who double-
majored in certain programs, as well as other
peculiarities, such as when a program changed
names.

UPH names Aldrich president and CEO
Arizona Daily Star 1/31/09
Larry Aldrich has been named president and chief
executive officer of University Physicians Health-
care, the health-care provider said Friday. Aldrich
had served as interim CEO since former CEO Norm
Botsford resigned in June. Aldrich now heads all
three divisions of UPH: a 350-member physicians
group practice affiliated with the University of
Arizona College of Medicine, a health plan division,
and University Physicians Hospital.

Robb: Get radical on higher ed funds
Tucson Citizen 2/2/2009
Budget crunches should be an opportunity for structural
reforms that are otherwise too politically difficult. That
opportunity, however, is rarely seized. The exigencies
of the moment absorb all the available political energy.
As legislators scramble and struggle to make the
dollars and cents tote up, they should resolve not to let
the opportunity for structural reforms pass them by. No-
where is the need more evident than in university
funding. The universities are the third-largest consumers
of general fund revenue. Funding for the two largest -
K-12 education and the state's Medicaid program -
is to some degree voter protected.

The big debate: Cutting the state budget
Tucson Citizen 2/2/09
The story: Budget cutters in the Arizona Legislature
propose reductions in education spending that would
force universities to increase class sizes and shutter
some academic units. K-12 public schools also
would have to tighten their belts. House Appropriations
Chairman Jon Kavanaugh, R-Fountain Hills,
pronounced the cuts "painful," but not "lethal." Your
take: The Citizen online community wonders if
Kavanaugh understands the meaning of "lethal,"
and disputes the logic of eliminating jobs during
what is shaping up to be a Great Recession.

UA to close museums to public, reduce UApresents
funding
Tucson Citizen 2/2/09
University of Arizona President Robert N. Shelton has
placed public outreach on the chopping block to deal
with the multi-million dollar budget blow dealt UA
Saturday by the state Legislature. UA's portion of the
$141.5 million university system budget cut is estimated
to be about $57 million. Shelton announced Monday
afternoon through an all-campus memo that Flandrau
Science Center and Planetarium and the UA Mineral
Museum will be closed to school groups and the public
later this spring.

UA chooses interim director for BIO5 Institute
Tucson Citizen 2/2/09
Fernando Martinez has been named interim director
of the University of Arizona BIO5 Institute effective
Friday. He will replace Vicki Chandler, who will leave
the BIO5 leadership post Feb. 13 to become chief
program officer for science at the Gordon and Betty
Moore Foundation in the San Francisco area.

Our Opinion: Guidelines needed for states' use of
stimulus funds
Tucson Citizen 1/31/09
The U.S. House would pump $6.5 billion into Arizona's
economy, part of an $819 billion stimulus package the
representatives approved Wednesday. That could be
very good news for our deficit-ridden state government.
But whatever stimulus package ultimately is enacted -
the House plan, an as yet unannounced Senate plan
or a hybrid of the two - the state needs to spend the
money as federal officials intend. The dollars must
be used for economic stimulus, not for legislators'
convenience or preferred projects. "This is not
discretionary money for the state to use as it wishes,"
warned U.S. Rep Raúl Grijalva.

Editorial: Costly Decision
ASU Web Devil 2/2/09
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Well,
who are we kidding? This semester has been pretty bad.
Instead of worrying about classes, we’ve been wondering
if those classes will still be around next semester for us to
stress over. The last couple weeks have been marked with
partisan fighting, protests at the capitol and terse e-mails
from ASU President Michael Crow (though, to be fair, that
man can wield a metaphor.) For the first time in recent
memory, we’ve become acutely interested in usually
arcane topics, like appropriations committees and what
goes into writing a bill. And it’s all led up to this: $143
million taken away from the state universities this year.

Legislature OKs $143 mil cut to university system
ASU Web Devil 2/2/09
State legislators passed a series of budget proposals,
including $143 million in cuts to the state university
system, early Saturday morning. The proposals,
consisting to six bills, were signed into law by Gov.
Jan Brewer after nearly a month of intense public
scrutiny and political jousting in the Legislature.
Brewer partially attributed the current budget crisis
facing the state on a lack of fiscal discipline by the
previous administration. “The seeds of this budget
crisis have been sown for many years, and thus the
solutions are neither easy nor painless,” Brewer
said in a press release Saturday.

ASU responds to state budget deal
ASU News 1/31/09
The revised Fiscal Year 2009 budget passed by
the state legislature has singled out the state’s
universities for the largest cuts. It deals a
devastating blow to ASU, U of A, and NAU, to
all our students, to every citizen in this state who
wants to see a child or grandchild have a quality
university education. While some have described
these cuts as small, they have, in fact, set in
motion a Force 4 financial hurricane whose
destructive force has not yet begun to be felt.
Our nation is fighting two wars it cannot afford to
lose – one against terrorism and a second against
an economic recession so deep it may take several
years or more to overcome. At the very time our
nation is calling its universities to action in this most
important of economic battles, Arizona has gone in
the opposite direction, the equivalent of grounding
the state’s economic air force in the hope that we
can fight a high-tech economic war on horseback.

NAU student body president resigns
jackcentral.com 1/30/09
Brad Busse, Northern Arizona University Student
Body President, announced his resignation,
effective immediately at yesterday’s Associated
Students of Northern Arizona University (ASNAU)
Senate meeting. Busse is stepping down from his
role as president of ASNAU due to personal
reasons, and to focus more on his academic
commitments. Vice-President of Academic Affairs,
Alyssa McKinley, has replaced Busse as president
and Rachel Williams, Vice-Chair of the Senate and
senator for the College of Social and Behavioral
Sciences, has replaced McKinley as the new Vice
President of Academic Affairs. McKinley is the 77th
president and the 13th female president of ASNAU.
“We will proceed as planned with the organization,”
said McKinley. “Everything scheduled to take place
will and I am eager for the progress of the rest of
the year.”

Editorial Opinion: Yea, nay or OK?
UA  Daily Wildcat 2/2/09
Brewer celebrates Arizona's Super Bowl by signing
crushing budget proposal - Newly-appointed Gov.
Jan Brewer made her first major move Saturday
morning, and it was a lulu. She signed off on the
Arizona Legislature's controversial budget plan,
which will ravage the state's universities to the tune
of $142 million, deal a punishing blow to K-12
education, pummel health care programs, and
spell the end of thousands of government jobs. 
...College Republican supports Republicans over
college - Want a vivid, revealing glimpse into the
mentality that's driving the Arizona Legislature's
determined efforts to crush higher education?
You can do no better than to read and absorb
the words of UA College Republican President
Ry Ellison, as quoted in Friday's Daily Wildcat.

Closures loom for UA libraries
UA Daily Wildcat 2/2/09
As the UA tries to accommodate a recent $142
million statewide cut in university funding, the
UA libraries face the decision of either
increasing tuition or eliminating two libraries.
Carla Stoffle, Dean of Libraries and Creative
Photography, said the Fine Arts Library, located
in the music building, and the Center for Creative
Photography library would close this summer if
there were no increase in the "information
technology/library" student fee.

Gov. Jan Brewer signs off on budget cut package
Phoenix Business Journal 1/31/09
A state budget plan approved Saturday cuts money
for universities, community colleges, children’s
services, school construction and economic
development and likely will require furloughs and
reduced work schedules for state employees. The
budget package, passed by the Legislature and
signed by Gov. Jan Brewer, covers the current fiscal
year and a projected $1.6 billion deficit. The shortfall
could reach $3 billion for the next fiscal year, which
Arizona legislators plan to tackle next. The current
plan also sweeps money from various state funds,
including the Arizona Lottery and 21st Century Fund,
created to attract biomedical businesses and
research to the state. It also cuts state outlays for job
training, arts grants, tracking of sex offenders, school
construction and newborn health screenings. Arizona
State University already has imposed work furloughs,
and state agency heads have been instructed to
reduce worker schedules as needed to help save
money.

Special Report: Layoffs drive workers to school,
new careers
Phoenix Business Journal  2/2/09 8:35am
Editor’s note: Phoenix Business Journal reporters
reached out to several Valley businesspeople to
find out how they have been impacted by the
recession. After being laid off from longtime jobs,
many are finding new ways to make a living. Some
are returning to school and using student loans to
keep them afloat, while others are taking matters
into their own hands by launching new businesses.

Key provisions of Arizona budget-balancing plan
Associated Press/KTAR.com
1/31/09 5:53pm
Key points of a legislative budget-balancing plan:
Lump-sum cuts and salary reductions for state
programs and agencies. To find the personnel
savings, agencies have discretion to decide
whether to use layoffs, furloughs or vacancy
savings.  University funding. Cut by approximately
$135 million. Cut is smaller than an early $243
million set of options that included sweeps from
special-purpose funds and larger than $100
million offered by Board of Regents and
university presidents.

Governor Brewer signs bills to close Arizona
budget gap
KVOA News 4 2/1/09 7:08 PM MST
PHOENIX (AP) - Gov. Jan Brewer has signed bills
passed by the Republican-led Legislature to close
Arizona's nearly $1.6-billion midyear shortfall by
cutting spending, sweeping dollars from special-
purpose funds and using federal stimulus money.

Comments on Arizona budget plan
myfoxphoenix.com 2/1/09
Comments on Arizona budget-balancing plan
signed into law Saturday by Gov. Jan Brewer
after being approved by the Legislature: "Make
no mistake -- the seeds of this significant budget
crisis have been sown for many years, and thus
the solutions are neither easy nor painless. In
just over 5 years, spending in the state budget
increased from approximately $6 billion to $10
billion." -- Gov. Jan Brewer     "They crafted this
budget behind closed doors on Wednesday
evening and rushed it through the process
without consideration for any other revenue
enhancement or financing options." -- Arizona
Education Association, a teachers union.

Arizona Governor signs bills to close huge budget
gap
Associated Press/abc15.com 2/1/09 12:14 pm 
Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer on Saturday signed a bud-
get plan passed by the Republican-led Legislature to
close a nearly $1.6-billion midyear shortfall by cutting
spending, sweeping dollars from special-purpose
funds and using federal stimulus money. The state's
tax collections have been hammered by the recession
and the housing industry's collapse. The $9.9-billion
budget for the current fiscal year -- which is more than
half over -- faces a shortfall of about 16 percent. It's the
largest deficit, by percentage, of any state. The Senate
approved the six-bill package late Friday night, and the
House followed suit early Saturday morning. "We
stopped the bleeding," said Sen. Bob Burns, R-Peoria.
Brewer, whose spokesman announced the signing
about eight hours after legislative action finished,
earlier thanked the Legislature for fixing a budget
that she said included unrealistic spending and was
"built on the false hope of increasing state revenues."

The week ahead: House hears bills, Senate turns
to 2010 budget
The Arizona Guardian 2/1/09 16:38
Now that the fiscal 2009 budget is behind them, law-
makers will turn their attention to plugging a $3 billion
deficit in the 2010 budget and continue hearing some
of the hundreds of bills introduced in the last few weeks.
The Senate, at President Bob Burns' direction, continues
to focus solely on the 2010 spending plan. Instead of
hearing bills, committee chairmen are scheduling
reviews of state programs and agencies with an eye
toward budget cutting.

Focus shifts to 2010, governor says
The Arizona Guardian 1/31/09 09:41
State leaders will have little down time after approving
a fix to the 2009 state budget at about 2 a.m. Saturday.
They'll begin work on solving a $3.4 billion hole in the
2010 budget starting next week. "We will be back
working very hard next week to confront the adversity
and to place our great state of Arizona back on the path
to prosperity," Governor Jan Brewer said in a statement
released by her spokesman Paul Senseman. Here's the
governor's entire statement: "I want to thank the leader-
ship and members of the Arizona Legislature for their
hard work and diligence in promptly addressing one of
the most difficult budget challenges in the history of the
State of Arizona. They have answered the call, and they
have done the people's business

Why isn’t ASU’s Michael Crowe taking a pay cut?
sonoranalliance.com 2/1/09
The universities are complaining about budget cuts, but
do you see any of the top-paid administrators volunteering
to cut their own overinflated salaries? President Michael
Crowe makes $475,000/yr, even more than the median
salary for public sector university presidents of $427,400.
100% of that salary comes from taxpayer funding. Crowe
is mandating 10 days unpaid leave for all university
employees, and 15 days unpaid leave for the fat cats like
himself. You do the math. This is only a temporary drop in
the bucket for him, he’s only going to make $447,610 this
year instead without those 15 extra days. He’ll still make
more money this year than the average public university
president. ASU isn’t even a top-tier public university
(although University of Arizona is). It’s not in the top 50
public universities, it’s ranked #60. Not sure why Crow
deserves a salary so high.

Help for Paying Off Your Student Loans
U.S. News & World Report 1/30/09
A new federal program starting this fall promises relief
and hope for millions of students and recent graduates
burdened with big federal educational debts. Starting
July 1, those with federal student loans can ask the
government to limit their monthly payments on their
federal student loans to less than 15 percent of their
income. Many of those who qualify for the new Income-
Based Repayment (IBR) program will pay much less
than that. Those who earn less than a base budget
allowance of one and a half times the poverty level
for their household (which was $10,400 a year in 2008
for a single person) won't have to pay a penny on their
federal student loans. Everybody else who qualifies
for IBR will have to pay 15 percent of the difference
between their income and the base budget allowance.

Stimulating Boon for Small Colleges
Inside Higher Ed 2/2/09
WASHINGTON — The federal legislation designed to
stimulate the moribund U.S. economy is so filled with
programs and provisions for different segments of
American society that if you turn a page, you’re likely
to come across one that you haven’t noticed before.
Colleges and students would benefit from many
aspects of the bills that are working their way through
the House and Senate, many of which are so big (like
$39 billion in funds designed to restore state budget
cuts for public colleges and schools) and so obvious
(between $3.5 billion and $6 billion for construction
projects at postsecondary institutions) that they’ve
been well-documented. But a comparatively little
noticed tax provision in both the Senate and House
measures could make it significantly easier for small
private colleges to raise money to build or renovate
facilities, buy equipment, or refinance debt.

Downturn Threatens the Faculty's Role in
Running Colleges
The Chronicle of Higher Education 2/2/09
Professors are losing their grip. Tough economic
times are leading administrators to propose swift
changes that short-circuit faculty governance,
long a prized principle that gives professors wide
-ranging authority over educational matters. The
results, faculty members say, are hastily conceived
plans that reorganize academic programs,
decrease professors' roles in shaping the
curriculum, and jeopardize tenure applications —
all done with little advice from the faculty, in the
name of saving money. The chancellor of the
Tennessee Board of Regents, for instance, has
proposed a plan to stress online education, hire
more adjunct teachers, and put full-time faculty
members in an "oversight" role. The University
of South Florida's Tampa campus merged
programs and shifted some faculty members
to different schools in just six months. And Ohio
University has a new academic plan that was,
many professors charge, an end run around
some of their own recommendations.