Students to address regents at campus hearing tomorrow

Students will have the chance to voice their views on tuition increases at a hearing tomorrow.

The Arizona Students' Association, a statewide student lobbyist group, unveiled its tuition proposal last Monday, calling for tuition to remain the same next year.

Now, the fight will move to the Arizona Board of Regents, who will listen to students at an open hearing in Harvill building room 211 at 5 p.m. tomorrow.

"I really hope students will get behind the fight," said Associated Students of the University of Arizona President-elect Doug Hartz. "They need to go to tuition hearings and voice their concerns."

But UA students have not been entirely supportive of ASA's proposal, offered as a counteroffer to Likins' call for a 12 percent in-state increase and a 9.7 percent out-of-state increase.

"Many students I've talked to are not against tuition increasing if it means preserving the quality of their degree," said Hartz, a current senator.

Hartz said tuition should not be increased to offset budget cuts; instead, the money should be used to deal with student concerns - like technology and faculty retention.

However, Janet Bingham, vice president for university advancement, said that Likins' proposal is not designed to make up for the budget shortfall.

"I believe the president would have made the recommendation despite the budget situation," she said.

Regents will decide on tuition at their April 25 and 26 meetings.

Kay McKay, president of the Board of Regents, has come out in support of the plan laid out by Likins, which includes a possible increase in financial aid.

But some regents, including Chris Herstam and Jack Jewett, have said they do not support increases of more than 4 percent.

Students at UA South in Sierra Vista and UA in Douglas can participate through teleconference.

The hearing can be viewed at http://webcast.tv.nau.edu/ws-distlearn/st-hearing-real-04162002.html.

Faculty, grad students to offer science venture forum

Science faculty and graduate students will be able to share ideas on how to get their ideas into the marketplace at two venture forums this week.

Panelists from across the University of Arizona and the City of Tucson will be able to exchange ideas about how to form companies, attract venture capital and license products, ideas and services.

The first forum, which takes place Wednesday from noon to 1 p.m. in Room 218 of the Physics and Atmospheric Sciences building, will center on biosciences. The second forum, which takes place at the same time Thursday in the same room, is geared toward physical and optical sciences.

The panelists include: Richard Powell, UA vice president for research and graduate studies (April 18 only); Larry Aldrich, the fund manager for Tucson Ventures and president of Aldrich Capital Company; Frank Hartdegen, the director of the UA Office of Technology Transfer; Richard Haney, director of the UA Office of Research and Contract Analysis; Gary D. Libecap, director of the UA Karl Eller Center and the Berger Entrepreneurship Program; and Carl Russell, president and CEO of Tucson Technology Incubator, Inc.

Both forums are open to faculty and graduate students. No RSVP is required.

UA business team awarded 'Best All-MBA Team'

The masters in business administration students in the Eller College of Business were awarded the "Best All-MBA Team" honorable mention award for Casas Sin Fronteras by the judges at the National Social Venture Competition held April 5-6 at the University of California Berkeley.

Casas Sin Fronteras, developed by UA masters in business administration students in the Eller College of Business, is a non-profit affordable housing plan for low-income Mexico residents.

The competition consisted of 77 teams from business schools all over the country submitting housing plans that were judged in two different divisions high growth and medium growth.

The judges hand out one award for each division. The UA team was one of the eight finalists, beating out 69 teams from other schools, including Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The judges created the honorable mention award for the UA students, Molly Gilbert, Eman Hadweh, Marlene Mendez and Leticia Santillan, because most teams usually consist of one student and employees of the project.