SAUL LOEB/Arizona Daily Wildcat President Likins adresses faculty yesterday to discuss looming budge cuts. He proposed making former cuts permanent rather than targeting new programs.

If President Peter Likins has his way, UA will eventually narrow its focus to areas in which it excels, rather than trying to serve every academic need of Arizona's ever-growing population.

With the universities expected to take further budget cuts this year and state budget shortfalls estimated at $1.4 billion over the next two years, it is possible that UA, ASU and NAU will be able to choose specific areas into which they want to channel most of their resources, Likins told the Faculty Senate yesterday.

He said the Arizona Board of Regents recently asked the three university presidents to brainstorm how they would like their respective schools to grow in the next few years in light of budget cuts that have already taken about $60 million from UA's budget alone.

All three presidents gave answers that Likins referred to as "remarkably compatible," in the sense that if regents allowed them to act on those recommendations, it would allow Arizona's university system to remain strong, while eliminating from all of them the burden of trying to serve every need.

UA, he said, should maintain its strong focus on research while identifying other areas that would have to be cut.

Though he didn't pinpoint academic areas in which he would like to see emphasis, he told the Senate that as deans and other administrators are making decisions about which areas will be hit hardest by budget cuts, it will become more evident what fields will be prioritized in the long-term.

But with more cuts looming this year, Likins said he doesn't want to pressure deans ÷ who are already burdened with implementing cuts made earlier this year ÷ to identify future programs to be eliminated.

"Making cuts in areas that are already temporarily cut and making them permanent are easier than finding more temporary cuts," he said.

Meanwhile, ASU ÷ which with about 50,000 students is already one of the 10 largest universities in the country ÷ would continue to grow rapidly, keeping pace with the fast growing Phoenix area that surrounds its campuses.

"With three campuses, ASU is able to do that," Likins said.

NAU is looking to designate itself as a strong liberal arts university and would like to continue to prioritize that area, Senate Chair Jory Hancock said.

Especially if the regents agree that the university system should be restructured to allow each university to emphasize certain areas, it may also allow UA to become more selective in its admissions process.

Strategic Planning and Budget Advisory Committee chairman Jerry Hogle told the Senate that his committee is recommending eliminating provisional admissions, which is offered to in-state students with a 2.5 high school GPA, to prospective UA students,

Likins agreed, saying he told the regents he would like to see UA become more selective, so it can manage the growth and academic programming of the university, he said.

He hopes to be able to shape the classes, having a good mix of graduates and undergraduates making sure that students, faculty and staff members are all well diversified.

Senator Andrew Silverman asked Likins why he was asking for input when it appeared Likins already had outlined where he hopes the university would go.

Likins responded by saying that it is the beginning of a public discussion.

"This is the beginning of a process and these are not definitive," he said.

Likins is hoping to get a lot of feedback and ideas from the student body as well as the staff and faculty.