By
The Wildcat Opinions Board
Since his first days on campus, UA President Peter Likins has brought large-scale plans to the university and literally restructured a good chunk of the landscape. Things like that obviously don't come over night, a lesson we have all learned by the months, and soon the years, of construction and rebuilding. And things like that are certainly not funded by raising tuition by a few cents.
Additionally, the University of Arizona is asking for a lot of money from the state legislature for things like teachers' salaries and more teaching assistants - people who are the foundations of learning at this institution.
Asking for and receiving additional state funds are two completely different things, something the university discovered in the spring of 1999 when lawmakers appropriated the UA about $35 million less than it asked for. The legislature does not always pan out as a funding option, and university officials know that.
In preparation for this potential shortcoming, the UA is about to launch Campaign Arizona - the university's equivalent of an organized Halloween trick-or-treat outing. Ask every possible source for candy, and see what you get.
The plan is about as large-scale as the UA has ever laid its eyes on. The foresight it takes to raise $400 million - or $500 million if organizers reach their unofficial goal - to compensate for funds the legislature may not award us is admirable and unheard of at UA. For most individuals, and most organizations, half a billion dollars is an unthinkable amount of money. Any effort that could reasonably expect to raise it deserves our accolades.
Campaign Arizona could end up setting records, and right in the nick of time.
With a yearly increase in tuition - in addition to the rising cost of living in the growing city of Tucson - students should not be asked to bear more of a brunt than they already do.
Plus, many of the students complaining about a lack of financial stability are graduate students working as TAs. It's unreasonable to ask that students pay more money in order to increase their own salaries.
To make matters better, students even have an opportunity to aid in the effort. Two hundred are being recruited to aid in fundraising and distribution activities. With luck, this should take the last necessary step in Campaign Arizona - ensuring that the money is put where it will do the most good for students.
Campaign Arizona aims to put money toward five themes - student-centered community, learning through discovery, better living, energizing the economy and global partnerships.
The money will be used across the board, benefiting nearly every member of the UA community. UA administrators realize that their financial requests to state lawmakers might not be met. In itself, this is not really a commendable thing. But what is commendable is that they're actively doing something that could very well prove better than a $10 million state appropriation for increased faculty salaries.
