CHRYSTAL McCONNELL/Arizona Daily Wildcat Former legislator John Kromko poses questions for ABOR President Jack Jewett and Student Regent Matt Meaker at last night's campus forum.

Program cuts have hit home for Marc Paley twice in two years. When he finished his general education courses at Pima Community College, he transferred to the UA hoping to enroll at the Arizona International College.

But before he could, regents closed it.

In November 2001, regents decided to eliminate the college to fight state budget cuts, so Paley, a sophomore, decided to pursue an interdisciplinary studies major.

One of his areas of focus, the humanities program, is now slated for possible elimination under Focused Excellence.

Speaking last night to two regents and a crowd of 35 people, Paley asked Board of Regents' President Jack Jewett and Student Regent Matthew Meaker to rethink a statewide initiative that calls for the universities to become more independent from the state Legislature.

"It's the interest of the state to provide for all people, science-minded people, arts-minded people and business-minded people," Paley said.

Paley and many others in the audience last night pled with Jewett and Meaker to protect

programs targeted for elimination under UA President Pete Likins' Focused Excellence plan.

The regents offered little consolation, saying repeatedly it would be premature for them to comment on Likins' individual proposals until they are formally presented to the regents, probably in June.

"There's a whole lot that can happen in a couple months," Meaker said.

Their warning didn't stop more than half a dozen people from the landscape architecture school, who pled with regents to spare their school, also one of 16 programs targeted for elimination.

Michelle Rudy, a landscape architecture graduate student, asked anyone in attendance concerned about the school's potential closure to stand. About 80 percent of the audience rose.

Rudy said Likins and Provost George Davis called for the school's closure based on inaccurate data, and that a lack of information emanating from their offices has made it difficult to present informed arguments to spare the program.

"I'm not even sure what to ask or what to refute anymore," she said.

Likins' Focused Excellence plan, which calls for the UA to direct its limited state funding to fewer programs, also took fire last night from people who called it ill-conceived and pointless.

"We should not debate what Focused Excellence means," said John Kromko, a UA alumnus who served with Jewett in the Arizona Legislature. "It is the most stunningly meaningless thing I've ever heard."

That comment drew resounding applause.

Landscape architecture professor Mintai Kim wondered why small departments had been targeted when savings from their closure would be minimal. He also asked why Likins and Davis had not released information on how much money would be saved if proposed program cuts are approved.

"They are doing this because the university is overextended in terms of budget," Kim said. "What is the point of doing this when they don't know how much they're saving?"

Likins has said Focused Excellence was not implemented so the UA could save money in the short-term. Rather, he said, it will allow a limited pot of state resources to be directed toward fewer areas.

That pot has been diminishing for years, and Jewett said that had regents not decided to allow the universities to forge more distinct identities, the results could have been catastrophic.

"The alternative to success with this agenda is pretty ugly," he said.

Kromko joined Jewett in criticizing the Legislature for its continued reduction in university funding, but then accused Jewett of doing an inadequate job protecting it.

"This is not the Jack Jewett I knew in the Legislature, who said if we don't get this bill through tonight we're not going home," Kromko said.

Jewett will visit the Legislature next week to ask lawmakers to spare universities from the latest round of budget cuts. Under a Republican proposal currently being discussed, the UA would stand to lose $16 million this year ÷ an amount Likins said would be impossible to cut.