By Cara Miller

Arizona Daily Wildcat

A member of a campus-wide review committee told Faculty Senate members yesterday that the mediaÕs attention to recommended departmental cuts has been counterproductive.

Lynn Nadel, chairman of the planning committee of the Strategic Planning and Advisory Committee, also said the committee was likely to deliver a revised recommendation about proposed program cuts to Provost Paul Sypherd in the next few weeks.

Nadel said the new report would likely recommend the elimination of two unspecified departments or programs and defer the recommendations of two others. Downsizing of six graduate programs and the future of eight others is also a likely recommendation, Nadel said.

He would not say which programs these cuts would target.

recommendations, faculty senator and music professor James OÕBrien said the media attention makes the process political..

"The process has been flawed," O'Brien said. ÒThe minute the process becomes public it becomes a popular vote.Ó e

O'Brien particularly reffered to the recent editorials regarding the proposed cuts that have appeared in The Arizona Daily Star.

Jacqueline Sharkey, a journalism professor, defended the media attention, saying it has been beneficial for the process.

ÒI think it is an outrage to say that the public doesnÕt have the right to that information,Ó Sharkey said. ÒThis is not their university. This is the publicÕs university.Ó

She said the administration has used the press for the same political process that the departments have been accused of.

But Nadel said the media has been used by the departments to preserve their programs.

ÒPeople have agendas that are other than what is best for the university,Ó he said.

While Nadel asserted that the recommendations are preliminary, Sypherd said the university is going to have to restructure.

ÒGet it fixed in you r mind folks, that is the road we are on,Ó he said. ÒIf the Soviet Union can do it, the UA can do it.Ó

Sypherd said if the faculty are unhappy with the job the administration is doing, then the faculty need to replace them.

ÒFrankly, it's been a real pain in the neck,Ó Sypherd said. ÒNone of us likes the brouhaha that has surrounded what we do.Ó

Lynn Joens, veterinary science professor, said the faculty should support the provost and the president.

ÒIt seems like all we can do is is bash higher administration,Ó Joens said.

Faculty senators also decided to form a committee to review the selection process of the college level committee members which are making recommendations simultaneous to the SPBAC report.

Outgoing Associated Students of the University of Arizona president Derek Lewis, the only student member of SPBAC, called the committeeÕs work ÒcleanÓ and Òobjective.Ó

ÒI don't think there were any hidden agendas,Ó he said.

In anticipation of the reviced recommendations, Nadel said itÕs going to be a bumpy process.

ÒThere will be some contradictions between SPBAC and the college level committees, and then the discussion will work those problems out,Ó Nadel said. ÒOn these matters, intelligent people will disagree.Ó

Wildcat reporter Adam Hartmann contributed to this story. Read Next Article