Illustration by Cody Angell

For dozens of UA students, faculty and staff, the memo President Pete Likins and Provost George Davis released on Jan. 14 marked an unpleasant turning point: the end of secure academic routine and the beginning of a desperate battle for survival.

Part of the large-scale budget cut package that the administration has somewhat euphemistically called "Focused Excellence," the memo proposed the wholesale elimination of 19 UA programs, ranging from an agricultural center in Marana to an in-house nuclear reactor. Although couched in neutral, inoffensive Bureaucratese, the Jan. 14 memo must have struck the affected programs like a death warrant.

But for some programs, last week brought a stay of execution. In a new memo released to the UA community last Friday, Likins and Davis have removed at least seven of the doomed departments from death row. The reprieve spares several of the most prominent programs on the elimination list ÷ the Flandrau Science Center, for instance, now faces only a sizeable budget cut and a barrage of bureaucratic changes. The School of Information Resources and Library Sciences, a perennial budget target despite its status as the Rocky Mountain region's only accredited library science program, also appears to have escaped the budget ax.

Phil Leckman

Some observers will chalk these Focused Excellence amendments up to a wholesale administrative change of heart ÷ a sudden epiphany that contributions to the university's intellectual ferment are more important than the financial bottom line. Suggestions to that effect are already being aired from several corners, including the Wildcat's front page story on the budget changes.

It's a good story, with a happy ending ÷ departments saved from the brink of extinction by the determined efforts of students and employees, coupled with a sudden administrative change of heart. There's doubtless some truth to this version of events ÷ as the Wildcat story points out, the president's memo emphasizes the academic and community value of the redeemed programs, rather than their economics.

On the other hand, a closer look at the proposals the programs prepared in their defense belies this rosy picture of Likins' memo. Instead, it reveals the hard, even dangerous compromises many programs are prepared to make in order to ensure their survival. Although last week's memo breathes momentary life back into these threatened programs, many earn this reprieve at a high cost.

In the long run, these sacrifices could do more harm than good, weakening promising programs while continuing to drain university resources. While most faculty and staff positions will be maintained, it's possible that departments crippled by these compromises could find life after Focused Excellence little better than no life at all.

Take the library school, for instance. In many ways, it's the program that comes the closest to the feel-good Hollywood scenario outlined above. As detailed in Friday's Wildcat, library school employees and students began fund raising as soon as the program's proposed elimination was announced, netting tens of thousands of dollars in contributions from community members and the state librarian of Arizona. A large contingent of students even organized a public rally. But if the story has a happy ending for now ÷ the well-earned survival of an excellent, in-demand program ÷ dark clouds still loom on the horizon.

Although the library school's proposed budget is sufficient to cover immediate needs, for instance, little or no funding is devoted to building for the future. To quote Likins and Davis, "Our support for maintaining SIRLS · is driven by the characteristics of the program as it exists now." The revised administration proposal thus places tight constraints on SIRLS' ability to develop new programs or expand existing ones ÷ greatly reducing its academic flexibility. Even hiring the faculty necessary for maintaining the program's accreditation may pose a challenge ÷ the current proposal for doing so relies heavily on additional fees to be levied on library school students.

But this assumes the number of entrants to the program will remain steady or increase, a possibility many find unlikely. A friend currently enrolled in the program, for instance, told me that several of his colleagues and advisers believe the new fees will discourage many prospective applicants. This is an unhappy prospect ÷ shorn of both its students and the money to maintain its accreditation, the library school could once again find itself back on the endangered species list.

By recognizing that some programs have a fundamental academic and social value that transcends economics, the revised Focused Excellence is a marked improvement on the original, and the administration's willingness to reconsider its recommendations is commendable.

Increasing the financial burden on the departments it saves, however, is an inappropriate long-term solution.

In light of recent revelations ÷ particularly the administration's deceptive practice of funneling tuition dollars toward financing construction debt ÷ UA must take a hard look at whether its priorities lie in sports, buildings or the academic integrity of our institution.