Campus fights change Arizona Daily Wildcat Wednesday Januay 29, 2003

[Caption} Members of the School of Information Resources and Library Science marched through campus yesterday to protest President Pete Likins’ proposal to eliminate the school.

A diverse group of 200 people attended yesterday’s Campus Town Hall to express concerns to President Pete Likins and Provost George Davis about their proposed budget cuts and program eliminations.

Members of the School of Information Resources and Library Science were among those who showed up waving colorful signs with messages such as “Got info? We need a library school!” to protest the cuts.

Linda Winn, a SIRLS representative, expressed her concerns over the possibility of eliminating one of the only library programs in the Western United States.

“If it wasn’t for libraries, there wouldn’t be a university,” she said.

According to Winn, one in four librarians will retire in 2004, and she questioned who will run the libraries after that.

Davis recognized the critical shortage facing the field, but expressed a greater concern for the well-being of the entire university.

Provost George Davis and President Pete Likins address concerns about Focused Excellence at yesterday’s Town Hall meeting.

“We feel those pressures keenly,” he said, adding that SIRLS is unique.

We want to “put SIRLS back on its feet without ripping funds away from something else,” Likins said.

However, SIRLS supporter Lisa Bunker doesn’t think that self-sufficiency would save the school, either.

“To eliminate this school would cripple the University unnecessarily,” Bunker said.

Likins commended SIRLS for their attempts to save the school, but said it would take more than that.

“We need not slogans, but a plan,” he said.

SIRLS had hoped the legislature would assist the University in maintaining a place on campus for the school, but possibilities of that, he said, seem slim.

Each change brings the UA closer to a “position to recognize our potential,” Likins said. He emphasized the need to achieve excellence, a comment that received applause from Davis.

“We’re daring to change this institution,” Davis said. “To achieve that level of excellence takes investment.”

However, representatives from the College of Architecture, Planning, and Landscape Architecture fear such an investment won’t be in their favor.

Suzanne Bott, a conservation planner with the Sonoran Institute, came to support the schools of Planning and Landscape Architecture. Bott emphasized the importance of these programs in Arizona.

“We’re facing great challenges ahead in terms of land use and borderland issues,” she said.

Davis said he recognized the outreach the School of Landscape Architecture has on the community, but said it is a small, under-funded college.

“We feel if there could be reinforcement of the architecture program even at the expense of other activities, that would bode well for the University,” Davis said.

Other concerns included possible higher entrance requirements for students. Likins responded by saying the UA will choose those who have the potential to succeed and the capacity to contribute to the university, more so than determining enrollment through “artificial numerical screening.”

Attendees also addressed the proposal to eliminate Gary Pivo’s position as the dean of the Graduate College.

Thomas Kinney, a graduate student in English, said he worried there could be a “slackening of respect for grad students” if the position is removed.

Likins assured the graduate students that the administration understands and will “focus sharply” on graduate assistants, saying that the university needs them to function.

“It doesn’t matter that the things that are in peril here are good programs . . .that’s just part of the casualty list.”

However, Likins expressed his willingness to listen to the community.

“We’re listening with hope,” he said. Until then, the proposals will continue as planned, in an attempt to be “world class in all that we do.”

“If we do nothing,” he said, “everyone’s at risk.”

 
Students, faculty speak out on changes By Inger Sandal ARIZONA DAILY STAR Wednesday, 29 January 2003

[Caption] James S. Wood / Staff
Students of the School of Information Resources and Library Science formed their own cheering section at Tuesday's town hall on campus restructuring.

University of Arizona President Peter Likins said he felt sad leaving a town hall Tuesday that drew 200 faculty members, students and others to plead their cases about proposed campus restructuring.

"People are not responding with anger. They're good people, sharing their hurt, and that just makes me hurt all the more," Likins said.

The School of Information Resources and Library Science had its own cheering section. More than a dozen graduate students from the school, one of 16 programs targeted for elimination, held signs, while others handed out bright-yellow fliers that detailed the school's strengths.

Lisa Bunker, a recent graduate of the school, and others told the crowd the school is profitable and unique in the Southwest and has higher enrollments of American Indian and Hispanic students than the general campus population.

"Give SIRLS a chance," said graduate student Linda Wynne, who recently moved to Tucson to attend the school.

Planners and planning students urged Likins and Provost George Davis, both seated on stage, to consider the extensive contributions made to low-income communities throughout Arizona by the schools of Landscape Architecture and Planning - also identified for elimination.

Graduate students implored Likins to reconsider the decision to merge the post of Graduate College dean with a research administration post.

Although Likins said he felt their pain, he added: "That doesn't mean that I'm going to say, 'Oh, sorry, I'm not going to hurt you.' I know that no matter what I do, someone gets hurt."

While he was at the Town Hall on Tuesday, state lawmakers proposed cutting $16 million more this year from the UA, which Likins called potentially devastating.

Republican legislative leaders have also floated the idea of selling university dormitories as part of a proposed massive sell-off of state assets.

None of the program eliminations or mergers Likins and Davis have proposed over the past two weeks will save a dime in the current budget year that ends June 30, Likins said. Most won't show much savings next year either, he said.

But he said there is growing acceptance on campus that money woes are forcing dramatic long-term changes.

That didn't make it any easier, Likins said, to talk "to individual students and staff who are feeling vulnerable and hurt and undervalued. In some ways if people got mad and yelled at me that would be easier."

Likins and Davis have proposed eliminating 16 programs, merging seven others and restructuring more than a dozen others.

Jennifer Shannon, who moved from Florida a couple of months ago to pursue her master's degree in library science, said she left the town hall feeling "very hopeful." She said she felt Likins and Davis would keep an open mind about keeping the program.

Likins had told Shannon and her classmates he was impressed by their "collective energy and mobilization" but needed constructive alternatives.

"We need not slogans but plans. We need strategies. We will be listening," he said.

Their school, Likins said, was one of several identified for elimination that provide substantial community outreach, but need more resources. He also cited the Flandrau Science Center, the Extended University and the schools of Landscape Architecture and Planning.

"Everywhere you look you see good people doing good work, getting along with too little money," Likins said.

* Contact reporter Inger Sandal at 573-4115 or isandal@azstarnet.com

 
UA President Likins stands firm in his quest for 'excellence' article in the Tucson Citizen by GABRIELA RICO Tucson Citizen Jan. 28, 2003

University of Arizona President Peter Likins assured the campus community today that he would not be deterred in his quest to bring "excellence" to the school.

Likins was responding to students and staff from the School of Information Resources and Library Sciences, a program slated for elimination as part of his Focused excellence plan, unveiled this month.

"Maybe we've been too quiet in the past, we won't be in the future," Lisa Bunker, a SIRLS graduate student, told Likins and UA Provost George Davis at a campus town hall attended by approximately 200 students and faculty.

She indicated that alumni are "mobilizing" to save the school, which she described as "an amazing part of this university."

"We need - not slogans - but plans," Likins responded. "Noise doesn't make any difference to me. Volume doesn't make any difference to me. I need ideas."

He urged the university community to bring their ideas for salvaging targeted departments, but reiterated that he will not stray from the goal of "excellence."

"Everywhere you look, you find good people doing good work with too little money," Likins said. "If this university loses excellence - game's over."

The town hall was the first of three, which Likins and Davis will hold over the next 30 days.

Nine speakers came to the microphone during the 90-minute meeting to ask questions or make statements about affected areas.

Earlier this month, Likins and Davis announced 16 programs or departments identified for proposed elimination and 19 programs and departments targeted for merger or reorganization.

The most vocal crowd today was - ironically - the library crowd, who pleaded with Likins and Davis to find ways to save the program.

Linda Wynne, a SIRLS master's student, noted that one out of four librarians will retire in the next six years, leaving a void in the profession. A void UA should be filling.

"I hope you would give SIRLS a chance," she said.

Likins said he shared her desire to see the program survive.

"I think we all hope SIRLS will survive," he said. "But, we're caught in a bind."

Without state revenue to provide the necessary growth for the program, accreditation could be in jeopardy, he pointed out.

And the future of state funding for higher education does not look promising, Likins added.

Early predictions are that the budget proposal will be "devastating" to the university, he said.

Focused excellence takes into account the need for the university to be less reliant on the whims of the state legislature, Likins said.

"We cannot expect the legislature to solve our problems," he said. "We can win this game, we just have to be smart about it."