Monday October 15, 2001

Last month we whined about the "brain drain" that was affecting several departments here at Bear Down University. Classes had been cancelled at the beginning of the semester, and in some cases, these classes were needed for that all-important graduation. We thought this was a big problem.

And it was - at the time.

But we are well beyond brain drain at this point. Following the announcement of the 4 percent midyear budget cut, President Likins warned us that this could make for huge changes - everything ranging from tuition hikes to hiring freezes to construction halts.

It makes the brain drain issue seem like quibbling over peanuts. True, the make-up of certain departments had been changed, worsened by professors leaving for better, higher-paying opportunities, but this budget crunch is an all-new evil. The first big slice has already been removed from the budget pie. The decision, made just days after the budget cut announcement, to close the Arizona International College, is impulsive, a thumb in the dike - a quick fix.

The Arizona International College is shutting its doors as soon as faculty contracts and student four-year programs are complete. "I was totally surprised," said George Gallegos, a second-year AIC student, pursuing a Spanish focus. Mr. Gallegos, who had not received Thursday's e-mail from President Likins, discovered the fate of his program by seeing Friday's Wildcat headline. "I'm not sure what my next plan is," he said, regarding the next two years of his program. He's worried that faculty may leave causing his last two years to decline in quality.

The Arizona International College, which offers its students international perspectives in a country that tends to have isolationist views on history and foreign relations, also gives students much more. "I love it at AIC," says George. "I get one-on-one attention from my professors. I actually know them. It sure beats the 400-student lecture experience." The UA, although not the overpopulated jungle that is ASU, still struggles with overcrowded lecture halls where several hundred students lean forward to hear a professor whose microphone isn't working today. We've all been there, especially when it's the professor's second lecture that day, and they're hoarse from yelling at the last hall full of students.

Not so at AIC. The student/faculty ratio is 1:20, and advising isn't the nightmare it is at the main campus. AIC seems to provide what UA lacks, but it has its critics as well. AIC was an experiment. The Arizona Daily Star reports that "It cost taxpayers $8 million to produce 24 graduates in its six years." When crunch time hit, cutting AIC was perhaps a way for Likins to both compensate for the budget cut and quiet critics as well. But cutting in this way prompts the question:

What is the measuring stick by which future cuts will be made?

"This is the only college that the university would even consider cutting," President Likins said as reported by the Daily Wildcat. This is a weighty statement that implies that AIC was well below other UA departments on the priority scale - a priority that students like George Gallegos might disagree with. Also, this statement can be funny if you picture what would happen on this campus if he cut something like women's studies.

The butchering that AIC got will only save the university $2,259,000 each academic year, and those savings will only take effect once students finish out their programs and faculty contracts expire. AIC's closing will affect 417 students, but will do little financially to ease the money lost by the midyear cut. The knife will continue to chop all over campus, and students are left wondering where it will fall next. Closing AIC, which will most likely be approved at November's Board of Regents meeting, is questionable.

It leaves students abandoned, forced to change their horse midstream. It leaves students like George Gallegos concerned about the completion of their programs. Quick fixes aren't the answer to UA's budget crisis, and closing departments such as AIC only dilutes the university's ability to offer a well-rounded education. AIC is the kind of department to fight for. In this case, it seems the fight is already lost.

For the rest of us at the mother-campus, stay tuned for the falling ax coming soon to a program near you.