Instead of hooking up behind closed doors, about 200 UA students auditioned yesterday for a chance to put their dating and sex life in the national spotlight.

"Big Man on Campus," a Warner Bros. reality TV show created by the people behind ABC's "Bachelor," held casting calls at the Tucson Marriott University Park hotel to find the "best and brightest guy" and the 25 girls who will compete for his attention. [Read article]

TEMPE - Regents yesterday voted to push forward with plans asking lawmakers to increase state-based financial aid and reward universities for improving graduation rates.

Arizona Board of Regents and university presidents agreed that these and a variety of other new strategies for funding universities would emphasize the divergent missions of the UA, Arizona State University and Northern Arizona University while protecting poor students from the rising cost of education. [Read article]

Growing up as a black woman in the South, Saundra Taylor learned how divisive racial segregation could be.

She almost didn't marry her white husband because of the racial tension around them.

"My husband and I really worked hard at not getting married ... because we didn't know whether we could survive a racist kind of cult society," said Taylor, senior vice president of Campus Life.

But they ended up marrying in 1968, the same year Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, realizing no amount of racial discrimination could keep them apart. [Read article]

telescope

An Apache tribe has declined money offered by the UA in an attempt to show the UA its disapproval of the Mount Graham telescopes.

Last month, the San Carlos Apache Tribal Council rejected the "Northern Tribes Initiative" proposed by the UA, the University of Minnesota and the University of Virginia, which are the university's Mount Graham Observatory partners.

UA law professors Robert Williams and Robert Hershey-Lear, and Indian Law Clinic Coordinator Don Nichols presented the initiative, which offered the San Carlos Tribe $120,000 for developmental programs such as educational outreach, agricultural improvement, summer camps and a cultural advisory process. [Read article]

Christine Alexander was never much of a Martha Stewart fan.

But she decided to use her own entrepreneurial skills to rally support for Stewart after the controversial homemaker was convicted for obstruction of justice.

Alexander, a 38-year-old theatre arts senior, has created a "Free Martha Stewart" T-shirt to convey how unfairly she feels one of the most successful female entrepreneurs has been treated. [Read article]

UA team takes 9th in national competition

Rain, tornados and tons of dark organic matter did not hold back the UA Soil Judging Team from defeating agriculture universities from across the country in the National Soil Judging Competition last week.

David White, a soil and water science junior, took 10th place in the individual competition of more than 80 competitors. Emily McKindley, a soil and water science sophomore, trailed by only a few points and placed 15th. The UA team ranked ninth overall. [Read article]

Eller may stop paying $250 fee for students on merit-based waivers

TEMPE - The business college may force undergraduates with merit-based tuition waivers to pay a $250-per-semester fee this fall that was waived for all scholarship recipients this year.

That move is being considered because it would free up more money to give financial aid to students on need-based scholarships, said Pam Perry, associate dean of the Eller College of Management. [Read article]

PHOENIXÊ- The Arizona Board of Regents approved yesterday proposals that will require undergraduate and graduate students to pay new and increased fees for special courses and programs next semester.

The special fees for undergraduate courses were approved by six of the seven regents, with the new regent, Ernest Calder—n, casting the sole dissenting vote.

Starting in the fall, a new fee of $90 will be required of all students enrolling in Analyzing Financial Information, FIN 401, and the fee for Recombinant DNA Techniques, MCB 473/573, will jump from $50 to $150. [Read article]

PHOENIX - Children and spouses of correctional officers or National Guard members injured in the line of duty could go to college for free under a bill passed by the Legislature.

Sponsored by Sen. Jim Waring, R-Phoenix, SB1158 has a strike-everything amendment that requires Arizona's universities to waive those groups' tuition.

The bill, which was already approved by the Senate, passed uncontested from the House of Representatives and now heads to the governor's desk. [Read article]

PHOENIX - Linda Blessing, the Arizona Board of Regents' top administrative official, will retire at the end of June.

Replacing her as executive director is Joel Sideman, board of regents' deputy executive director and legal counsel.

While the move is expected to be seamless, Blessing's colleagues say they will miss her leadership, which helped guide the regents through the most radical period of change in the university system's history. [Read article]

Freshman considers herself a nerd, watches shows like 'Pyramid' and 'Family Matters'

Wildcat: Do you have a couple of minutes?

Ott: Mmm ... I dunno. What's this for?

Wildcat: Well, I'm Claire from the Daily Wildcat and you're on the spot.

Ott: I'm on the spot? Why?

Wildcat: Why not?

Ott: The people that are always in there don't make any sense. The people in there just like try and make up shit that isn't true to make themselves look cool. [Read article]

Things you always never wanted to know

Quotes this week from campus and the world

"We were naive in thinking the university would enforce the code of conduct, naive in thinking that Likins would honor his promises."
- Rachel Wilson, law student, on President Peter Likins' handling of issues concerning UA apparel made at factories with histories of labor abuse.

"They have a twisted way of protesting."
- Jacob Reuben, Associated Students of the University of Arizona senator, on the interrupted creation of a human Israeli flag on the UA Mall Wednesday. Protesters floated a set of red balloons over the crowd, trying to create the illusion of a bloodstain on the flag. [Read article]