Law college name change now official

The board unanimously approved the name change at its meeting Friday at Arizona State University in Tempe. The request was made to honor the benefactor who agreed to donate $50 million to the law school over the next 20 years.

"Jim Rogers has set a very high standard," said UA President Peter Likins. "His commitment seems to most of us to be so beyond expectations."

Rogers is an owner of Sunbelt Communications, which owns seven NBC affiliates and one Fox network affiliate. He donated $20 million to the University of Arizona law school in April and increased that amount by $30 million in September.

Rogers will pay $1.3 million to the school in 1999 and increase his yearly contribution by $100,000 for each the following nine years. He will give $3 million each year between 2009 and 2119.

Regent John Munger, a UA law school graduate who introduced the proposal, said renaming schools after their largest benefactors is nothing new. It's a trend he said he hopes will continue in Arizona.

"I am proud our relatively new system is finally benefiting from that type of benefactor," Munger said. "I almost believe we are going to see a rush of that after seeing the generosity of Jim Rogers."

The law school's name attracted the most attention during Thursday's call to the audience.

Bruce Heurlin, a 1972 UA law school graduate, said the name change should be approved because the money Rogers donated will benefit future law school students.

"It will significantly improve what we can offer law students, literally forever," Heurlin said.

U.S. District Judge Earl Carroll asked the regents to refrain from approving the name change until Rogers' obligations are contractually bound.

"No one would sell their property under the proposal that is before you," Carroll said.

The regents also approved changing the name of the law-school building from the James E. Rogers Law Center to the College of Law building.

In other business:

The regents accepted a plan to improve the competitiveness of salaries over the next four years.

The plan now goes to the state Legislature for approval as part of the state employee compensation package to be voted on in January.

If approved, UA's $259.6 million salary base for all ranks of faculty, classified employees and administrators would increase by $47.7 million - or 18 percent over the next four years.

The proposal was created to bring system salaries up to the 50th percentile for the country.

"The pay level in this state is much lower than other states," said Regent Don Ulrich. "It is an act of the Legislature to try to rectify that."

The regents approved a report from the three state university provosts on the first year of a post-tenure review process.

Post-tenure review can lead to dismissal if a faculty member does not make improvements after an unsatisfactory report.

The system, however, is preferred to the alternative, said Jerrold Hogle, UA faculty chairman.

"The faculty feels because the post-tenure review process has a lot of safeguards in it, it is far more favorable than an end of the tenure system," Hogle said.

Likins said the parameters set up for the evaluation process at the UA were effective, but may need some minor adjustments during the second year.

"We will learn as we go through the process," Likins said. "When you ask every department to conduct a review, they are not all going to do it the same way. That is fine tuning and doesn't involve policy change."

During executive session, Likins told the regents the UA will offer football coach Dick Tomey a new five year contract.

Likins asked the board to approve it during their next meeting Jan. 14-15 at the UA.

Anthony C. Braza can be reached via e-mail at Anthony.C.Braza@wildcat.arizona.edu.