Likins: new funding strategy needed

Wildcat File Photo Arizona Daily Wildcat Peter Likins

Likins said the report was "a deeply frustrating experience" because the University of Arizona, Arizona State University and Northern Arizona University do not have the resources to complete the changes they want to make.

"We need to develop a strategy to allow institutions to realize the goals set forth in the plans," Likins said. "We're planning expenditures without being involved on the revenue side."

The UA's five-year plan is a 95-page document laden with statistics and "cryptic" vocabulary, but no financial planning for the future, Likins said.

Regent Don Ulrich said there is "monumental truth" in Likin's criticism of the gap between university planning and legislative budgeting.

"I fault the board because we have not dealt with difficult issues," Ulrich said. "This board has no guts."

At the meeting at ASU, Regents President Rudy Campbell assembled a committee consisting of the three university presidents, Ulrich, Regent Judy Gignac and himself to address the problems.

Regent John Munger called the disconnection between planning and funding "a breakdown in the system.

"The Legislature needs to quit micro-managing," he said. "We are being cut off every time we try to do something by someone who doesn't know as much as we do."

The state Legislature requires the universities to put together the plans every two years, reporting university progress and making future projections. The three universities' plans were accepted unanimously by the board, despite the heavy criticism.

"This process is a mandated process," Gignac said. "We need to find a better way to accomplish things, but still do what we need to do."