The president of the Arizona Board of Regents told the Faculty Senate yesterday that the very future of our state is at stake, due to the anti-education trend in the Legislature.

Legislators recently voted to cut funding at the three state universities.

Although Eddie Basha said he is unhappy with the legislation, he said Arizonans have also failed in their cause of making people understand that better education leads to a better society. One way people could show their support for education would be to elect officials who support it.

"We need to focus our talents and abilities to find that Republican or Democrat who is committed to education and get that person elected," Basha said.

Under Regent Judy Gignac, the board will continue with public awareness committees about education and correspondence with legislators, Basha said after the meeting.

"We need to convince (the legislators) that it's an investment to this state," he said.

In other matters, Lynne Tronsdal, assistant vice provost for Undergraduate Education, introduced a proposal that would inform all community colleges of changes in the core curriculum of Arizona universities.

The proposal responds to complaints that some credits taken at community colleges or other universities did not transfer to the UA.

UA President Manuel Pacheco also said that a committee to define the core curriculum across the university system, involving representatives from the Arizona community colleges and three state universities, was in the works.

Pacheco said that a core curriculum applicable to all three universities would "eliminate any possibility to define own curriculum."