The Arizona Board of Regents has the opportunity to make a powerful statement to Arizona's legislature Friday, when the board will vote on whether to recommend that the state give the UA $15 million to keep faculty members from going to other universities.

Regents should, and likely will, pass the recommendation. The tougher battle will come when the proposal goes before the Legislature, which traditionally takes a hard-line stance against sending state tax dollars to the university.

But we must fight to get those dollars. If we need any more reminders as to why, just look back to last year, when the UA lost 49 faculty members.

Though salaries aren't the only reason they go ÷ many complain more about a research space shortage ÷ bringing compensation to a level more on par with other universities will make the UA more competitive when making counteroffers to people approached by rival institutions.

Faculty members do the teaching, research and service that form the foundation of the university's mission. Their retention must be a top priority at all levels of the bureaucracy that supports the universities.

The Legislature has never seemed to grasp that concept. But after two years of budget cuts that have stripped more than $40 million from the UA's coffers, they will soon have a chance to start remedying a problem they've ignored in the past.

Sen. Gabrielle Giffords, a Tucson Democrat who has been a friend to the universities, encouraged UA community members to speak up about the importance of funding faculty salaries.

"We need your activism; we need your voice at the Capitol," she told the Wildcat.

Students and other community members need to rally around this cause and make it clear to their elected officials that retaining faculty needs to be a top priority.

Write your legislators. Contact the Arizona Students' Association, an arm of the student government that's supposed to lobby on students' behalfs. If you can, show up at the board of regents' meeting this week and tell the regents in person how important this issue is.

Don't let our lawmakers off the hook.