Arizona Daily Wildcat
Wednesday May 7, 2003
While war with Iraq dominated the news this semester, it is important to look back and remember what happened here. These are the most important that issues of the semester in the eyes of the students. It was these stories that affected all of us on a day-to-day basis. What do you think is THE campus issue of the semester?
Likins' Focused Excellence plan was the biggest break the university never got
For all that happened around the country and overseas, one of the biggest stories of the semester for the campus community was something that, in a manner of speaking, didn't happen: Focused Excellence.
Last semester, when the plan was first suggested, it seemed like UA was headed in a radically different direction ÷ toward an elite institution built around scientific research. Higher tuition, higher admissions standards, Changing Directions and Focused Excellence: They seemed like a package deal, one that offered UA a chance of a bright, if uncertain, future.
Even though the initial proposals were more conservative than many had expected, the cuts recommended were substantial. Unfortunately, no sooner had a huge tuition hike cleared the Arizona Board of Regents then the proposals were dropped, with the exception of a few largely inconsequential nips and tucks. UA missed out on a major opportunity in doing so ÷ we could have taken a dire financial situation as an impetus to revamp our ailing university; instead we did the minimum amount of maneuvering necessary to avoid a total disaster.
If we ever hope to be an A-list public institution, however, we're going to need to do more than simply buoy a sinking ship ÷ we're going to need to build a new one.
Caitlin Hall is a biochemistry and philosophy sophomore. She can be reached at letters@wildcat.arizona.edu.
The search for the truth has been led astray
The biggest issue Americans face today is truth.
This semester, UA students received their largest tuition increase ever. Bush administration tax cuts have forced Arizona to tax its own students. Politicians from top to bottom have lied about it. Yet we are to believe that even more tax relief for irresponsible greed-mongers will bring us back to fiscal stability.
Rather than opening up investigations into 9/11 and declassifying documents pertaining to the Iran-Contra scandal, our president and vice president stood in front of Congress and lied to save their own asses.
Instead, the chickenshit media has chosen to focus on irrelevant topics, such as the Dixie Chicks or Sean Penn.
I care about the reasoning behind suspect pre-emptive strikes, unabashed favoritism to the rich and disgraceful conduct from the leaders of the free world. I want to know about Barrick Gold, Choicepoint, globalization fraud, Bush courting the Taliban and being in business with the bin Ladens instead of the shit shoveled on us by talking heads and scared-stiff journalists. I promise to write anything a whistleblower has to say or use any document they may give to me.
Arrest me.
Call me unpatriotic.
I could care less.
One cannot be a coward when striving for truth.
Bill Wetzel is a creative writing and political science junior. He can be reached at letters@wildcat.arizona.edu.
War in Iraq sends message to rest of world
The issue of the semester cannot be a campus issue, but rather, it must be the changing of history in the wake of the war in Iraq.
In a span of just three weeks, the United States demonstrated that it was capable of defeating the strongest military in that part of the world while minimizing civilian casualties to a minimum level that not even senior Bush administration officials dared to hope for.
There are few times in one's life that one has the opportunity to see world changing events. The end of the Cold War and the tearing down of the Berlin Wall are a couple of examples. The eradication of terrorism will be another of these events.
Peace will never be realized until host nations stop supporting terrorist groups.
With the convincing destruction of the Taliban government in Afghanistan followed by the lightning-quick defeat of the Iraqi government, the United States sent a message to the rest of the world: Support terrorism and your government will cease to exist.
Those who support the countries that support terrorism will also pay a price. Syria, France, Germany, Russia and Belarus are rethinking their foreign policy, knowing that they will now go down in history books as nations who supported evil over good.
The defeat of Saddam's evil regime sent a powerful message to the world. Terrorist states are now heeding that message.
Steve Campbell is a senior majoring in Spanish. He can be reached at letters@wildcat.arizona.edu.
Budget crunching a highlight of the semester
This semester, a number of things were different from previous semesters. Perhaps one of the most uplifting changes was that UA funding wasn't cut this semester in the state budget.
For so many years, the budget was balanced on the backs of education and children, but this year, things were very different.
Thanks to faithful lobbying on the part of Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano, our state's public universities were spared the ax that surely would have acted as a guillotine for higher education in Arizona. Funding for children's programs and health care was also saved.
After more than a decade of bad leadership on the part of Republican governors who paid only lip service to higher education, we now have a governor who understands that investment in education helps our state in the long run and will also help our economy.
If Gov. Napolitano's proposal for next year is approved ÷ and it is expected that it will eventually be passed ÷ university funding will be saved for yet another year. This semester, the tradition of cutting education to pay for special interest group subsidies and tax cuts was broken.
Hopefully, this new mentality among state leadership is here to stay.
Kendrick Wilson is a political science sophomore. He can be reached at letters@wildcat.arizona.edu.
Focused Excellence plan has yet to show its actual excellence to campus community
It quickly dropped off the radar in the face of the Iraq conflict, but Arizona's continuing financial woes meant dramatic changes for UA this semester. In response to drastic budget cuts imposed by the state Legislature, President Likins and Provost George Davis unsheathed their scalpels, cutting and merging entire departments in one of the university's largest and most drastic reorganizations in recent memory.
The administration tried hard to sell these changes as moves toward efficiency and "excellence." So far, though, it's hard to see them as much more than desperate attempts to plug persistent financial leaks forced on UA by the state's desperate need for revenue. For confirmation of this bleak state of affairs, UA students needed only to look at their bank balances: This semester also saw one of the largest one-time tuition increases in UA history, raising some students' bills by 40 percent or more.
Will any of this make any difference? UA's cash-strapped administration is struggling to make ends meet. Many services and programs show clear signs of decline. And the state is already proposing another round of belt-tightening ÷ budget cuts even President Likins argues would gut Arizona's university system. For all the talk of "Focused Excellence," UA appeared at times this semester to be fighting for its very survival.
Phil Leckman is an anthropology graduate student. He can be reached at letters@wildcat.arizona.edu.
Iraq war revealed campus thinkers, thugs
America's just and successful war to liberate the people of Iraq and the world community from the weapons of Saddam Hussein and his Ba'ath Party was the most defining issue of this semester ÷ not only because of its significance to world security, but because of how it dramatically affected campus culture.
The war thrust all of us students into the situation of having to choose a side and, more importantly, define our philosophies. Do we hold reason and liberty to be universal requirements of human life (which the advocates of the war had to ultimately decide), or do we think that human ideas and values are subjective or relative to one's race or nationality (which the advocates of Iraqi sovereignty concluded)? How should Americans, a people free to dissent thanks to our Constitution, express ourselves as we attempt to persuade others to share our view?
While there were many commendable example in classrooms, private gatherings, columns and letters to the editor of students framing their arguments in an effort to peacefully persuade others, this semester saw a sad and unacceptable movement toward intimidation-style mob protests on campus, which substituted "Hey hey, ho hos," occupation of library space, graffiti campaigns and public heckling for rational arguments.
Erik Flesch is a geosciences junior. He can be reached at letters@wildcat.arizona.edu
