Presidential candidate Yash Gupta started off his student forum yesterday by calling students "trustees" and the sole reason a university exists.

"If you weren't here, this university wouldn't be here," Gupta told an audience of about 60 students.

As a strategy for attempting to get funding from the legislature, Gupta said he would push the return and outcome of giving to state universities. [Read article]

PHOENIX - A bill providing an additional $5 million in financial aid to Arizona college students just crept closer to passage in the Arizona Legislature.

House bill 2626, called the Arizona Work Study Program, would provide funding for 4,000 to 6,000 college students next year. The bill passed the Universities, Community Colleges and Technology Committee, 7-1.

The bill asks the legislature for $5 million in initial funding for the program, which would pair students with local employers in their fields of study, said Rep. Ted Downing. The pilot program would fund the work-study program up to 80 percent of the student's wages, with the employer paying for the remainder. [Read article]

More students were evicted from the Residence Halls last semester for code of conduct violations than any other semester in at least three years.

Jim Van Arsdel, director of Residence Life, said 55 students were kicked out of the dorms last semester and two students have been evicted between the beginning of this semester and Jan. 19.

Last year the total number of students kicked out of the dorms for the entire year was around 80 students, and usually there are between 30 and 40 students evicted per semester, Van Arsdel said. [Read article]

Students test knowledge in the College Bowl

The College Bowl will be held tonight in the Presidio and Copper rooms in the Student Union Memorial Center from 4 to 8.

Teams who qualify will have a chance to test their knowledge against other teams from colleges in the Southwest in the Regional tournament Feb. 23 through 25.

Art on display in Student Union

Prints and paintings by artist Ernesto Trujillo are on display in the Union Gallery on the third floor of the SUMC today from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. The anthology Metamorphic Expressions "is a collection of thoughts, ideas and emotions described with intense energy and garish colors," Trujillo said. [Read article]

Student government officials said yesterday they have doubled efforts to run the organization smoothly while the Dean of Students Office privately conducts investigations within the organization about complaints made earlier this month and in November.

The Associated Students of the University of Arizona president Cade Bernsen has been on leave since Jan. 12 after firing three appointed officials, who were reinstated the next day, while the Dean of Students Office investigated the firings. [Read article]

ASUA senators called an executive session at the senate meeting last night, closing off part the meeting to the public.

According to the meeting agenda, the session was called so senators could discuss procedures related to the discipline of an ASUA officer and the appointment of student advisers to the senate and student records, which are confidential by law.

The meeting was attended by the nine Associated Students of the University of Arizona senators, secretary David Schexnayder, ASUA adviser Jim Drnek and Kiel Berry, a first-year law student and senate legal counsel. [Read article]

The construction of the building on North Park Avenue and East University Boulevard is causing a sidewalk closure and traffic delays, but students say they are excited about its pending opening.

Jane McCollum, general manager for the Marshall foundation, said the one-story retail building owned by the Marshall Foundation should be turned over to the tenants by Feb. 26 and opened shortly thereafter. [Read article]

Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard fielded questions from students over a fajitas and chocolate cake lunch yesterday at the Student Union.

Topics ranged from border issues and payday loan centers to career advice and law school.

"I personally believe public law is the best thing you can do as a lawyer," Goddard said. "I think our people go to bed at night and sleep very soundly. They really believe in what they do." [Read article]

American Indian studies may be offering a bachelor's degree as early as fall 2009 if the state approves funding for the program, university administrators said.

Currently, the program offers an undergraduate minor, a master of arts, a doctorate program and a combination master of arts and juris doctorate program, according to the American Indian studies Web site.

Gov. Janet Napolitano approved money for the UA program in her proposed budget last week, but only at half of the $3 million that was originally requested, and the state legislature still has to approve that amount, said Tsianina Lomawaima, interim director of American Indian studies. [Read article]

The caption of yesterday’s article, “Science, religion focus of talk series” incorrectly stated the “Astrobiology and the Sacred” lecture series is sponsored by the St. Thomas Moore Catholic Newman Center. The lecture series is actually funded by the John Templeton Foundation and the Metanexus Institute. The “St. Albert the Great Forum on Science and Theology” series is sponsored by the Newman Center. The Wildcat regrets the error. [Read article]

Things you’ve always never wanted to know

Every year, the Yellow River in China carries to the sea enough loess, a yellow loamy deposit from the deserts, to build a wall 3 feet high and 3 feet thick that would stretch 23 times around the planet.

Ninety-nine percent of all forms of life that have existed on Earth are now extinct.

Presidents George Washington and John Adams had to employ protection money — paying off certain pirates in the Mediterranean Sea with a couple million dollars — while Congress debated the creation of a U.S. Navy. [Read article]