The lone dissenting voice in yesterday's tuition setting came from a regent who has been on the board less than two weeks.
Ernest Calder—n, who was confirmed as a regent by the state Senate on March 2, voted against each of the three state university presidents' proposed tuition hikes. He didn't win a single vote, however, for any of his alternative plans calling for lower increases.
But he won the admiration of President Peter Likins, even though the two exchanged tense words over how Northern Arizona University should be required to use tuition money.
Calder—n proposed that the Arizona Board of Regents mandate that NAU tuition hike revenue be used solely for faculty and staff salaries and financial aid, a move Likins said would be financially imprudent.
"Can you tell me what the general sentiment is at NAU?" Calder—n responded, saying recent salary increases for high-ranking officials had contributed to faculty dissatisfaction there.
"The faculty at NAU have a tremendous, tremendous morale problem," he said.
Likins later apologized for offending Calder—n, though the new regent responded that he hadn't been offended.
After the meeting, Likins praised Calder—n's passion.
"He clearly has kind of a spicy style," Likins said. "He's going to be a great regent. He's done his homework."
Calder—n was the only regent on the losing side of each tuition-related proposal, which all passed regents by 8-1 margins.
The $490 hike approved for UA resident undergraduates is too high, he said, especially when tacked onto the $1,000 increase passed last year.
"It's just raising tuition at random," he said outside the meeting. "Forty percent last year, 10 percent this year. If my mortgage payment went up 50 percent in two years, I couldn't afford it. I'd lose my house."
Rather than the $490 resident increase and $700 nonresident increases that passed, Calder—n asked regents to approve hikes of $400 and $650.
But Lorraine Frank, who also began her term as a regent this month, criticized that amount and similar plans Calder—n proposed for ASU and NAU as tinkering.
"(It) was more a matter of principle than economics," she said.
The $400 increase Calder—n proposed for UA undergraduates matched the amount student lobbyists were asking for. And one lobbyist said she welcomed the fact that he backed slowing the speed of the tuition hike.
"We enjoy the spirit of (Calder—n's) perspective and the philosophical support that his perspective shows the university and the students," said lobbyist Alexis Coury. "But we do realize he was going up against all eight regents."
Yesterday's meeting was the first of Calder—n's eight-year term on the board. But even after losing every vote related to tuition, he said he wasn't demoralized. He said he'd continue speaking out whenever he sees the regents committing what he perceives as injustice.
"All I have is my voice," he said.