Billboard Blunder

"Find Yourself and Other Amazing Discoveries."

This billboard has been brought to you by the University of Arizona.

As the UA's enrollment declines for the second year running, it follows that university administrators will try to attract more students and promote the school.

More power to them.

Yet only a year ago, those same administrators were bent on punching up the UA as a "Research I" university, attracting the brightest minds and the freshest thoughts from across the nation.

When did this change?

As billboards advertising the UA appear around Tucson and Phoenix, it begs the question: What sort of student is the administration seeking with these billboards?

Truckers, cops and cabbies appear to top the list - followed quickly by cruisers, dealers and gangbangers.

While this example is hyperbole, billboards are a bad tack to take.

We concede state universities traditionally have dual roles: Serving the educational needs of Arizonans while providing an academic mecca for thought, thus attracting high-caliber professors and teachers.

Yet how are the billboards serving either of those two goals? Moreover, do university administrators really expect Arizona's top-ranked high school students, the best breeding pool for incoming students, to pay attention to these signs?

The answer to both questions is no.

While the billboards were paid for by a private UA foundation donor and not taxpayer funds, the money is clearly being wasted.

Instead of signs, put the billboard money into attracting high-caliber students to the school.

Take the Flinn scholar program for example. The Flinn Foundation scours Arizona's high schools for their top students and then entices them to stay in-state with full-ride scholarships.

Why not put the undisclosed sum spent on billboards into something that will actually attract them to the UA, rather than nebulous mass media advertisements.

The University of Arizona certainly appeals to some drivers, and a few may even want to go to school here.

Yet drivers are not the correct demographic element at which to aim.

Stay focused.