Why you won't see Sally at the Jay-Z concert

While Tommy Bruce and the rest of the ASUA throw themselves a $1 million going-away party, Sallygradstudent will be at home, studying, which is what she came to graduate school to do. If you haven't already read Heather Price-Wright's criticism of the timing and context of ASUA's concert, check it out here:

http://media.wildcat.arizona.edu/media/storage/paper997/news/2009/04/20/Opinions/Concert.Coach.Hard.To.Reconcile.In.Uas.Dire.Times-3717163.shtml

Since Price-Wright's article was published on April 20th, she had no way of knowing how few tickets were actually sold as of this morningWe'll have to wait until tomorrow to see if the ASUA's lofty expectations of actually making money on this deal will come true, but as of this morning, it wasn't looking like the project would even break even: http://www.azstarnet.com/allheadlines/290738.php

Just for your reference: the $750,000 that is being paid to Jay-Z (one of the concert performers) could have paid the projected $1,100 tuition surcharge for 681 undergraduate students. Alternatively, it could have paid into a fund to assist struggling students to pay their tuition and fees in these tough economic times. It is just shocking how much ASUA gets away with. Check out this article about alledged elections fraud in the ASUA:

http://media.wildcat.arizona.edu/media/storage/paper997/news/2009/03/24/Opinions/Editorial.Asua.Undermined.Its.Own.Legitimacy-3680447.shtml

In other news, the ABOR will be meeting tomorrow and Friday to determine if proposed cuts will be finalized, to possibly approve tuitions increases and to solidify restructuring plans. The details on the meetings appear in the article. Several programs are up for elimination and several "administrative" positions, too.

http://www.azstarnet.com/allheadlines/290723.php

The question is whether eliminating certain positions such as adjuncts and secretaries will really save money in the end. Adjuncts are relatively cheap labor and can sometimes put more time into teaching than other professors are able to do. Secretaries who really know what they are doing save time and energy for everyone: (ever had a message lost by a student worker?). Sometimes what looks cost-efficient is actually going to cost money in the long run.