Students from programs on chopping block speak up

Aside from laughs evoked by Provost George Davis' comparing program cuts to rock formations, tension and frustration filled DuVal Auditorium yesterday as President Pete Likins defended Focused Excellence in front of a crowd of 200 people.

For an hour and a half, audience members debated and questioned administrators about proposals to cut specific programs. [Read article]

Action plan outlines steps to deal with threatening behavior

Months after the murder of three nursing professors shocked the UA community, the Dean of Students Office has enacted tougher and clearer guidelines for handling threatening and disruptive behavior.

The office will announce today two new policies on threatening and disruptive behavior in the classroom that were enacted after the number of complaints tripled following the October slayings of three nursing faculty. [Read article]

The red tags seen on houses around the UA aren't decorations; most of them are citations from the Tucson Police Department.

TPD has issued an increased number of red tags in the university area in the past five to six months and expects to continue.

On Feb. 24, the penalties for red tags and various city ordinances will be addressed by Mayor Bob Walkup and the City Council, and could ultimately increase. [Read article]

Student senators, president lobbying to institute break from classes for three days preceding Thanksgiving

If all goes as Student Body President Doug Hartz plans, UA students will have a full week in November to enjoy turkey and pie.

Hartz is pushing for fall break, a weeklong vacation for UA students set for the entire week of Thanksgiving. Hartz and other ASUA senators took attendance in their classes in the weeks prior to the week of Thanksgiving. They then took attendance again on the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday before the holiday. [Read article]

Pre-pharmacy student likes Spiderman, can't use a fire extinguisher, but wants to create a pill to cure cancer

WILDCAT: So you said you were a pre-farm major. You mean pharmacy right, not cows and goats?

COVEY: Yeah.

WILDCAT: Good, I thought you were going to be a farmer. So what are you learning about right now?

COVEY: Lots and lots of chemistry.

WILDCAT: Aren't you afraid you're going to blow something up? [Read article]

Walk Registration
· Pre-registration Event for Second Annual "Move It for Dad" (Southwest Prostate Cancer Foundation Walk and Skate Event), 8 a.m. ÷ 10:30 a.m., Outback Steak House, 4871 E. Grant Road

Gardening Demonstrations
· Pruning and Training Fruit Trees (Apples, Peach, Plum, Apricot) 9 a.m., Extension Garden Center, 4210 N. Campbell Ave.
· Pruning and Training Fruit Trees (Apples, Peach, Plum, Apricot), 1 p.m., Wilmot Library, 530 N. Wilmot Ave.

Oral Examination
· Doctoral Oral Examination ÷ Educational Psychology, 11 a.m., Education building, Room 312

Resume Check
· Resume Check Event, 2 p.m., Student Union Memorial Center, Room 411

Speakers Series
· Faculty Fellows Speakers Series, 1 p.m. ÷ 2 p.m. Student Union Memorial Center, Gallagher Theatre

Grand Rounds
· Psychiatry Grand Rounds, 4 p.m. ÷ 5:30 p.m., Arizona Health Sciences Center, Room 5403

Seminar Series
· Genetics GIDP Spring Seminar Series, 4 p.m. ÷ 5 p.m. Biological Sciences West building, Room 219

Workshops
· Graduate Writing Workshop , 4 p.m. ÷ 5 p.m. Modern Languages building, Room 413
· Student Leadership Development Workshop on "Time Management" 5 p.m. ÷ 6 p.m., Student Union Memorial Center, Presidio Room

Lectures
· Archaeological Institute of America Lecture Series, 4 p.m. ÷ 5 p.m., Modern Languages building, Room 350
· Mexican poet/activist Homero Aridjis reads at the poetry center, 8 p.m., Modern Languages building, Room 350

Shuttle discussion
University of Alabama

The Crimson White ÷ A University of Alabama aerospace engineering professor believes the disintegration of the space shuttle Columbia on Saturday likely resulted from a structural problem.

"This looks like it just disintegrated due to a structural failure," said John Jackson, director of the aerospace and defense division of the engineering research laboratory.

Jackson said one theory on the cause of the accident is that something may have malfunctioned with the thermal tiles on the exterior of the shuttle that conducts heat away from the craft.

War protest
Texas A&M University

The Battalion ÷ Shouts echoed across the Academic Plaza at Texas A&M University on Monday as students gathered to protest the possible war in Iraq.

"Bush, Exxon, Mobil, Shell! Take your war and go to hell!" was the call taken up by the group of more than 30 students, faculty and staff. The group carried picket signs declaring, "Give peace a chance!" and "Disarm Bush!"

The anti-war protest was the first on Texas A&M's campus in a long time, but it will not be the last, the protesters said.

Smokers' worries
New York University

Washington Square News ÷ Scientists at the New York University department of basic science and craniofacial biology have found that tobacco may be responsible for preventing the immune system from detecting and eliminating cancerous cells.