Open Letter to those who want to stand up for their own education

When you read about the University of Arizona on the school’s website, these words appear as the mission: “discover, educate, serve and inspire.” Unfortunately, due to recent economic circumstances, the current university administration seems to be turning away from this mission.

This is not a business and was never intended to be run like one. While the university has a responsibility to itself and its students to remain financially sound, it should not make capital accumulation its goal. Diverting money from one area of studies to another that happens to be more profitable at the time is not the reasonable response to these budget problems. Since the new motto of the University of Arizona is “World-Class,” it is imperative that we consider what “World-Class” means.

This “World-Class” university plans to make class sizes bigger, giving students even less access to their instructors. When you take a campus tour as a prospective student, you are shown the student union, the Integrated Learning Center, the main library and a residence hall, but you are not shown typical classrooms. Could this be because they are not exactly what you would call “World-Class”? The current administration fails to equip classrooms with technology and access to the internet. Note the empty black boxes in the Modern Languages building that are supposed to house computers and the number of classrooms that still have chalk boards (even in such buildings as Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering building, Communications, Civil Engineering, Education and, ironically, Center for Computing and Information Technology). In some cases even the overhead projectors are broken or so dirty that it is impossible to use them effectively. It seems that these classrooms are 30 years behind the times.

The current administration forces the libraries to cut books and journals in order to accommodate a budget that has not been increased with inflation. It neglects to make buildings energy efficient by ignoring leaky doors and windows and bad plumbing. It crams dozens of graduate students into tiny offices and requires them to teach more students and grade more papers without increasing their salaries. It charges students more and offers them less. This just doesn’t make fiscal sense.

This semester the U of A has record enrollment: 38,057 students, according to the Tucson Citizen. This year the administration required that several departments open their class sizes to accommodate more students, thereby decreasing the amount of time and attention the instructor can devote to each student. At the same time, the university spent $250,000 on billboards in Phoenix in order to attract even more students. The Arizona Board of Regents will hear a proposal for a 13% tuition increase this Thursday. This would mean about $726 per in-state undergraduate. Despite all of this additional income, the university doesn’t seem to be able to make the bud get work.

Now Pres. Shelton has asked the Arizona Board of Regents for an additional 13.6 million dollars to expand the medical school in Phoenix, while admitting to the Tucson Citizen that the U of A is currently unable to offer its existing faculty salaries that even meet the national mean. The administration has now explicitly stated that departments and programs will certainly be eliminated by June 2009.
In April, Pres. Shelton proposed a bond project that would borrow 1.4 billion dollars in order to pay for several construction projects on campus. He titled his announcement: “Investing in bricks, and in our future.” How can we invest in buildings if we can’t afford to pay the educators who would occupy them? How can the central administration pinch pennies with one hand while maxing out the credit cards with the other?

Public education will be in crisis until this country realizes that it has mortgaged its future. World-class education cannot afford to ignore the world. This is an issue that goes beyond the desire for a well-rounded education; it goes to the very heart of society. What we choose to value will determine our path. We cannot afford to sacrifice critical thinking and be seduced into believing that the only valuable pursuits are those that are currently making the most money.

Cutting-edge research comes from critical thinkers. This is not a technical school. It is not a factory. It is not a business. This is an institution of higher learning. As students, our responsibility is to participate in the current discussion. We cannot let apathy determine the future of education in Arizona. It is our responsibility to make our voices heard.