The student senate almost suspended distribution of emergency cab ride cards on campus Wednesday. But after receiving a four-page memo from the president of the emergency service regarding the progress the company had made in fixing transportation problems, senators decided yesterday to continue with the program and the distribution of cards.

Student Lifeline, Inc. ÷ a company that gives free cab rides 24 hours a day to cardholding students, staff and faculty in cases of emergency ÷ has been plagued by problems since its inception at UA. [Read article]

"Changing Directions" plan would reinvent UA as a more research-oriented institution

The Arizona Board of Regents will meet today to discuss changing the missions of Arizona's three public universities, possibly making UA more selective in admissions and tuition more expensive.

Since the possibility of differentiating the missions of each university was proposed at the regents' retreat in August, President Peter Likins has been working to develop a new goal for the institution with the Faculty Senate, the Strategic Planning and Budget Advisory Council and ASUA, Likins said in a memo sent to the UA community on Sept. 17. [Read article]

Nearly 600 women have bought the morning-after pill from Campus Health Services since Jan. 1.

Plan B, commonly known as the morning-after pill, is emergency contraception that can be taken within 72 hours after intercourse to prevent pregnancy.

Of 358 health centers surveyed in colleges nationwide, 52 percent said they offered the pill, according to the 1999 survey released by the Chronicle of Higher Education yesterday. [Read article]

The Graduate College will ask the Arizona State Legislature for $2 million this fall to hire 150 more graduate teaching assistants for next year, in hope of reducing the workload of teaching assistants.

The Arizona Board of Regents will discuss asking the state for more funding to hire more GTAs at a meeting tomorrow in Tempe.

Some GTAs have complained of being overworked and underpaid.

"A spring 2000 workload survey showed that the GTAs at UA self-report a 22 percent overload. A (GTA) that is supposed to work 20 hours, works 24 hours a week," said Gary Pivo, dean of the Graduate College. "It is not unusual to find TAs working 50 percent more than their workload," he added. [Read article]

The student senate approved $3,891.98 worth of funding to 55 student clubs during its meeting last night.

Associated Students of the University of Arizona had reviewed the funding requests of the clubs previously and then proposed amounts that they deemed fair.

While requests ranged from $37.04 to $1,324, student government gave no more than $150 to any single club.

The Pakistan Student Association was given the most of any club. [Read article]

Brewer reveals Gentle Ben's facts, myths and trade secrets, invents chicken-money pizza

WILDCAT: Is Gentle Ben a bear?

GRIGGS-RYAN: Actually, it was the name come up with by the owner a long time ago. In a galaxy far far away.

WILDCAT: I was under the impression that it was from a Michael Jackson song. See, he did a song about a bear named Gentle Ben.

GRIGGS-RYAN: A lot of people think it has to do with the old bear, you know, Grizzly Adams, and Gentle Ben was the name of his bear. [Read article]

LAWRENCE, Kan. ÷ Having trouble finding pot?

Some students say they are.

One student, who preferred to remain anonymous, said she was having a difficult time finding a hook-up for pot, and what she did find was too expensive.

"I went from being able to find an ounce whenever I wanted it to having to beg for a quarter- (ounce)," she said.

Another student, who also wanted to remain anonymous, said he had to seek out different sellers each time he made a purchase and no connection had been consistent for months. [Read article]

MISSISSIPPI STATE, Miss. ÷ University of Mississippi police picked up five Mississippi State University students early Wednesday morning for attempting to steal a football helmet from the Ole Miss locker room.

"They were trying to take it (the football helmet) as a souvenir," Bobby Black, captain of investigation of the Ole Miss Police Department, said.

Black said he did not know whose helmet the students attempted to take. [Read article]

"We ought not politicize the rhetoric about war and life and death."

÷ Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, who accused George W. Bush of politicizing the possible war with Iraq.