Posted inUncategorized

ASU’s dreams dashed

When I saw this morning's headline in the Arizona Republic, "ASU's Dreams Dashed," I didn't realize it was just a sports story. Arizona State University was the prime example of a recent New York Times story headlined, "State Colleges Also Face Cutbacks in Ambitions." Reporting on the hundreds of layoffs and scores of closed programs, among other draconian austerity measures, the Times wrote:

…this year, Mr. Crow’s plans have crashed into new budget realities,
raising questions about how many public research universities the
nation needs and whether universities like Arizona State, in their
drive to become prominent research institutions, have lost focus on
their public mission to provide solid undergraduate education for state
residents.

"Mr. Crow," of course, is Michael Crow, who arrived as ASU's president in 2002 promising "the new American university." When he was riding high, I talked to an eminent Arizonan, a huge supporter of higher ed, who had just spent some time with Crow. "He's brilliant…visionary," this person said. "And he's a con man." On my visit to Phoenix last month, a major civic leader said flatly: "I think Crow's house of cards will collapse soon."

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Posted inPhoenix

Kookocracy lies about university cuts

Fact and fiction about Arizona university funding, per Michael Crow (and I agree):

Based
on some of the responses I’ve received recently regarding the state
budget proposal, I wanted to forward a few key facts to counter the
lingering inaccuracies and misperceptions I continue to encounter. The
information below provides important clarification related to pending
budget concerns and the magnitude of the challenges ASU is facing.


Fiction: The cut to ASU in the proposed legislative budget
is a small fraction (between 4 and 12 percent) of the university’s
overall budget.

Fact: The actual percentages are 35 percent of the
2009 state General Fund budget that is remaining for the year and when
the proposed 2010 cuts are added, it totals 40 percent of the
university’s state General Fund appropriation in 2008 on a Full-time Equivalent (either a full-time student or its equivalent of two part-time students) basis.

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