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McGrath amends dorm proposal

PHOENIX-Arizona Rep. Jean McGrath, R-Glendale, said she has dropped three of her proposals to regulate Arizona's universities, but has a new plan for residence halls.

McGrath said yesterday she has dropped her plans to regulate course content descriptions, to require campus Internet filters for sexually explicit material and to prohibit the use of campus Internet connections for non-educational purposes.

She said the universities have addressed her concerns about course content descriptions by agreeing to enforce a university rule that textbooks required for a course must be available in the campus bookstore.

McGrath still wants the universities to find a way to keep students from accessing pornography on taxpayer-funded systems, she said.

But her dorm bill, amended multiple times in committee, is being amended yet again.

In yesterday afternoon's Republican caucus, McGrath said she has prepared an amendment to the scrapped dorm bill that would require Arizona's three universities to provide the option of single-sex dorms, and to move students who have roommate problems in co-ed dorms into single-sex dorms at no additional charge.

The universities "have been very unresponsive in the past," she said later.

She erroneously stated in caucus that UA has eliminated all of its single-sex dorms. In fact, UA has six single-sex dorms, five for women - Maricopa, Gila, Coconino, Pima and Parker House - and one for men - Cochise.

Afterward, she said House research staff had not responded to her question about single-sex dorms before the meeting; and that her plan is a "preventative" for the trend of co-ed dorms in public universities.

McGrath said she appreciates UA students invitations for her to come to campus, but they have already made her aware of their concerns.

"I don't have time to do that; I'm in session," she said.

But, she does not think she will come after the session either, she said.

"I don't know what that would benefit," she said, explaining that a visit would not solve the university's problems, nor would it change her mind.

"The sponsor (of a proposal) isn't the person you work on," she said, suggesting that students should lobby their own representatives.